Bhubaneswar: BJP and BJD, who are ruling at Centre and state, entered a fresh battle to grab credit for the new railway line project connecting Haridaspur-Paradip through Kendrapara district.
Ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislators from Kendrapara district Thursday submitted a memorandum to Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal through general manger of East Coast Railway. The ruling party MLAs demanded commissioning of passenger trains on the line.
“The Haridaspur-Paradip project in final stage and very soon it will start functioning. We have submitted a memorandum requesting Union Railways Minister to start passenger train service in the route along with goods trains,” said BJD legislator Sashi Bhusan Behera.
In a bid to get credit for the project, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Wednesday requested Goyal to set a date for formal inauguration of Paradip – Haridaspur railway line, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Pradhan wrote the letter to his colleague following Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s letter to Goyal to start operation of passenger trains on the new line from August.
Meanwhile, former Kendrapara MP and BJP leader Baijayant panda has also jumped into the fray by trying to take credit for the project.
This railway project is being executed through a special purpose vehicle, in which state government, Ministry of Shipping and Indian Railways have similar share in equity in the SPV. The project tool extremely long for commissioning but with continuous monitoring, it has finally come to the final stage. The 82-km line connects Kendrapara district to the railway map for the first time.