Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of State for Railway Manoj Sinha Monday flayed the state government for not acquiring the required land for smooth implementation of several railway projects in the state sanctioned by his ministry.
“A number of railway projects were delayed as the BJD government failed to acquire land for these projects,” Sinha said while dedicating and inaugurating a slew of passenger amenities at Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Talcher stations through video conferencing from Railway Auditorium here.
He said the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given top priority to development of railway in Odisha and provided much more funds than the UPA government in the past five years.
But the projects could not be implemented and completed as the state government failed to provide land.
Sinha assured that if the state government expedites the acquisition of land, the railway projects will be completed adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never do injustice to Odisha.
He claimed that said during the last five years Rs 27,000 crore was provided to Odisha for development of railway network and passenger amenities in the state.
Commenting on the bifurcation of Waltiar Railway division, the Union Minister said the decision was taken by the then UPA government during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the present government was only implementing it.
He urged political parties not to politicize the issue and said although the Waltiar division was bifurcated but at the same time a new railway division at Rayagada is being created. The Union Minister further assured that not an inch of the railway network would be allowed to go outside the state.
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said the BJD members did not raise the issue about the bifurcation of Waltiar division in Parliament but is now shedding crocodile tears.
Sinha laid the foundation stone of new escalator at Bhubaneswar Railway and dedicated the escalator and foot over bridge at Berhampur Railway Station, Passenger Amenities and improved Circulating Area at Talcher Railway Station through videoconferencing from Railway Auditorium here.
He also announced extension, increase in frequency and additional stoppage of some trains during the occasion.
The extension of Hazrat Nizamuddin-Raigarh Gondwana Express will be extended up to Sambalpur via Jharsuguda Road and the frequency of Sambalpur-Howrah Express via Angul and Bhadrak wil be increased from weekly to tri-weekly.
Sinha also announced the Stoppage of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express via Angul at Dhenkanal, Howrah-SSPN Express & Haldia-Chennai Express at Balasore, Howrah-Kanyakumari Express at Bhadrak, Purulia-Villupuram Express at Jaleswar, Puri-Paradeep & Puri-Barbil Express at Kanas Road, Howrah-Puri Dhauli Express at Markona, Puri-New Delhi Neelachal Express and Kendujhargarh-Bhubaneswar passenger at Dhanmandal Railway Stations.
The Union Minister also dedicated 280 Rural Wi-Fi Hotspots and Wi-Fi Choupal Project of Common Service Centre (CSC) for 100 Gram Panchayats of Jagatsinghpur District of Odisha, 400 2G based Transmission Stations & 480 numbers of 3G based Transmission Stations in Odisha, Comprehensive Pearl Archive Network for 708 sites and Multi-Protocol Lable Switching Transport based Packet Aggregation Network (MNH-PAN) of BSNL in Odisha.
