Jajpur: A proposal sent to the Union Railway Ministry for rechristening of the Jajpur-Keonjhar Road railway station as Jajpur railway station has been pending for approval for the last three years allegedly due to the negligence by the district administration in submitting a justification report to the Centre. Reports said Jajpur-Keonjhar Road railway station is on the Howrah Chennai mainline at Jajpur Road. However, not a single train runs from this station to Keonjhar, raising doubts about the rationale behind the name of the railway station.
As the proposal has been stuck for non-submission of a justification report, the state Commerce and Transport department had issued a letter (No. 1277/9/2/2021) to the Jajpur district administration, reminding the latter that the proposal has not been executed till date. Deputy secretary of the Transport department Durgacharan Sahu has again sent a reminder to the Jajpur Collector seeking a justification report May 27, but to no avail.
Locals have pointed fingers at the district administration for its alleged negligence in carrying forward the move to rename the station. JK Road Railway Station is at Vyasanagar, the gateway to Kalinganagar Industrial Complex in Jajpur Road. Although there is no train that runs to Keonjhar district from here, the name of Keonjhar has been part of the station’s name since the British rule. One Harishchandra Sahu, who was staying in Baradpur in New Delhi, first initiated his attempt to remove ‘Keonjhar’ from the station’s name board.
He had also sent a letter to then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in November 2018 in this regard. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written to Goyal about the need for changing the name of the railway station July 22, 2019.
In the letter, he stated that Keonjhar district already has railway lines and the name of Jajpur-Keonjhar Road railway station is completely wrong. Keonjhar has its own railway station – Kendujhargarh railway station. Keeping the name of Keonjhar with Jajpur Railway Station is redundant, he argued.
A BJP delegation from Vyasadev Mandal had submitted a memorandum to the DRM of the East Coast Railway (ECoR), to rename the station as Jajpur or Dolipur railway station. The ECoR had thoroughly examined the demand in this regard.
However, it was stated in commercial circular of the Railway Board July 17, 1999 that the Union Home Ministry cannot alone approve the proposal. The ECoR suggested that the state government should approve the proposal and send it to the Home Ministry. Hence, the Transport department deputy secretary has again sent a reminder to the Collector seeking a justification report May 27. As for the issue, Collector Chakraborty Singh Rathore said, “A justification report with data had been sent to the railway ministry last year, but it has not been confirmed whether the Railway Ministry has received the latter. Another report will be sent.”