Bhubaneswar: The Centre has allocated an outlay of Rs 6,995.58 crore for the state in the Railway Budget for 2021-22, an official statement issued by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) Thursday said. The amount is against the state’s demand for Rs 7,200 crore.
While the Centre has claimed that the fresh allocation is about 60 per cent more than the previous 2020-21 fiscal’s Railway Budget outlay of Rs 5,759 crore, the state government as well as the Opposition parties here have described the amount as “peanuts”.
State Transport and Commerce Minister Padmanabh Behera, however, termed the allocation made for the railway sector in 2021-21 as “disappointing.” Expressing dismay over the Budget allocation, Biju Janta Dal (BJD) Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik said that the Union government has not sanctioned fund for any new project.
“The total Budget outlay for development of infrastructure and safety related works for Odisha is Rs 5,528 crore for 2021-22, which does not include many other projects and estimates as they are not significant enough for mention at ministry level, but for ECoR and Odisha, these are important development works,” the statement said.
The allotment has been significant for projects to be completed in 2020-21, it said, adding that funding is to ensure that no progress is hindered for lack of funds. There has been a significant increase in outlay for passenger amenities, road safety works, in terms of Road Under Bridge and Over Bridges, and Limited Height Subway (LHS).
While claiming that the Narendra Modi government has all along been cooperative towards railway infrastructure development in Odisha, Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has allocated Rs 1,000.50 crore for Khurda Road-Bolangir project against the previous year’s allocation of Rs 520 crore.
The fresh allocation is an increase of 92.4 per cent from the previous year’s outlay for this project, Pradhan said. He urged the state government to complete land acquisition for the project so that the allocated funds be utilised within 2021-22 fiscal. Pradhan said this railway project will connect the coastal region with the western parts of the state.
Similarly, funding for railway line doubling projects especially, Bansapani-Daitari-Tomka-Jahkapura is Rs 228 crore against Rs 80 crore last year, which is 185 per cent increase.
This apart, more allocations have been made for other projects like – Brundamal-Jharsuguda fly over (Rs 20 crore against Rs 10 crore last year), Bhadrak-Nirgundi 3rd Line (Rs 229 crore against Rs 102 crore last year), Budhapank-Salagaon (Rs 215 crore against Rs 205 crore last year), Rourkela- Jharsuguda 3rd line (Rs 230 crore as against Rs 170 crore an increase of 35 per cent), Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3rd Line (Rs 225 crore as against Rs 50 crore, an increase of 350 per cent).
A ‘quantum jump’ has been given to passenger amenities from Rs 129 crore to Rs 429 crore, the railways said, adding that in order to eliminate level crossing of LC Gates Rs 400 crore has been sanctioned as against Rs 324 crore last year.
State Transport and Commerce Minister Padmanabh Behera, however, termed the allocation made for the railway sector in 2021-21 as “disappointing.” “There is no sanction for any new rail line. Our demand is not met. Practically Odisha will get only Rs 4,500 crore which is much less than our expectation,” Behera said.
Behera said the state had demanded Rs 7,200 crore of which Rs 3,500 crore was for the pending projects and Rs 3,700 crore for new projects. However, the Centre allocated only Rs 4,500 crore of which only Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the ongoing Khurda-Bolangir railway project.
He rejected the Railway’s claim that Rs 6,995.58 crore has been allocated for different railway projects. “In the list of the railway projects prepared by the Centre, many completed projects are mentioned only to increase the figure,” Behera said.
He said the state had demanded allocation for new railway projects like Puri-Konark, Bargarh-Nuapada, Chakulia-Buramara and Jajpur-Aradi-Dhamra among others.
PNN
