Bhubaneswar: A day after the Centre said that it has allocated around Rs 6,995 crore for the development of railway sector in Odisha, the ruling BJD Friday said that the Railway Budget was made with an intention to loot minerals from the state.
Addressing a presser here, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said Odisha was once again neglected by the Centre in the Railway Budget for the year 2021-22.
“During British rule, railway line was constructed in Odisha to loot minerals. Unfortunately, the incumbent government at the Centre is also doing the same thing 75 years after the Independence,” Mohanty said.
If coal is not extracted from Odisha, power and steel sector in the entire country would suffer a lot, he said, adding, “In return, Odisha is getting nothing except for pollution.” During past 75 years, only six new railway lines have been constructed in the state. These lines are—Cuttack-Paradip, Talcher-Sambalpur, Koraput-Rayagada, Daitari-Bansapani, Lanjigarh-Junagarh and Khurda-Bolangir, he said.
Six districts namely, Kandhamal, Boudh, Mayurbhanj, Kendrapara, Deogarh and Malkangiri are yet to see trains, he said.
The BJD leader further said the Union government has collected approximately Rs 20,000 crore from Odisha in railway sector. “During past seven years, it had collected about Rs 1,40,000 crore. However, in return, the state has got Rs 14,000 crore in railways. Is it not step-motherly attitude towards Odisha?” he asked.
Another BJD spokesperson Shreemayee Mishra asked Bolangir MP Sangeeta Singhdeo and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi to reply why the Khurda-Bolangir railway project has emerged as a ‘historic slow project’.
Rubbishing the allegations, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said, “The railway projects were delayed in the state due to delay in land acquisition by the state government. Had the state government allotted land for the railway projects on time, the projects could have been taken up expeditiously and money would not have been remained unutilised,” Mohapatra said.
The BJD should rise above politics and help in development of railway sector in the state, the BJP leader added.