Rourkela: Construction of a new rail platform, a long standing demand of thousands of passengers, is in jeopardy due to encroachment of railway land near Gopabandhupali here by slum dwellers, a report said.
Railways authorities have already set up the second entrance to the station but other infrastructure work has been affected due to the presence of an old and illegal slum. Though the district and railway administrations issued order on many occasions for the eviction of the patch, the illegal occupants don’t pay heed.
It is alleged some local politicians are in favour of the illegal slum and this is one of the reasons it becomes difficult for the railways to acquire the land.
According to Sangram Keshari Mohanty, the general secretary of North Odisha Rail Coordination Committee, the second entrance has already been opened and there is a proposal to set up a platform on Gopabandhupalli side. This is purely a railway project but the slum dwellers don’t vacate the patch as they get support from local political leaders. Infra development works like construction of parking lot, circular area development and other civil constructions have been affected, he added.
Citing an instance, Mohanty said, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela were covered under the Smart City project at the same time. While a second entrance and two platforms were immediately constructed to meet Smart City requirements in Bhubaneswar, it was not possible in Rourkela. Shortage of platforms has put restriction on the entry of number of trains into the railway station, he pointed out.
Thousands of people from Chhend, Basanti Colony, Koel Nagar, Jagada, NIT and Steel Township are set to get the benefit of the second entrance of Rourkela railway station as they will now travel less than before. However, the absence of a platform near the second entrance makes them visit the old platform.
Similarly, passengers in six north Orissa districts – Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Kendrapara – are yet to get the train services via Keonjhar because of less number of platforms in Rourkela, it was learnt.
When contacted, Manoj Kumar Roul, assistant secretary of Rail and Road Users’ Association, said the issue was raised on several occasions with the top railway officials and the state government but it is yet to yield any result.