Koraput: The ambitious Jeypore-Malkangiri railway project in Koraput district has been delayed inordinately due to various bottlenecks related to survey and land acquisition even as the administration and the Railways intend to facilitate the completion of the project.
A technical committee on the railway projects from Jeypore to Malkangiri and Jeypore to Nabarangpur held its meeting here last Thursday under the chairmanship of ADM Deben Kumar Pradhan. At the meeting, a social impact assessment report was presented.
Notably, the Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet had approved a new broad-gauge railway line between Jeypore and Malkangiir in 2008.
It was learnt that a survey was conducted on a 27-km stretch of the proposed railway project, while the survey work for the next 10 km will be completed in 15 days.
It was said that during the social impact assessment survey, the locals raised a number of issues, which were investigated by the tehsildars concerned.
Meanwhile, the survey for the Jeypore-Nabarangpur railway line has been completed.
The railway line has been proposed to pass through Boriguma town, but the locals opposed it. They had proposed to divert the line at the point and rework on a map for two km. The ADM said that the Railway authorities have accepted the proposal and a fresh survey will be conducted.
The 130-km rail line was proposed in 2016-17 as part of an agreement between the state government and the Railways.
Of the 130 km, 82.88 km passes through Malkangiri and 43.12 km in Koraput. Sources said the Railway Ministry had made budgetary allocations of Rs 28 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 33 crore in 2021-22. But the project is not moving forward for various factors.
In October 2018, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) had reportedly submitted requisition for 463 acres of private land and 113 acres of government land to the state government. Later in December 2020, it had submitted a revised requisition for 356 acres of private land and 743 acres of government land covering a total of 110 km in both Malkangiri and Koraput districts.
PNN
