Berhampur: The Ministry of Railways had in 2011-12 decided to set up a wagon factory at Sitalapalli in Gopalpur constituency of Ganjam district. However, the NDA government later dropped the project. Years later, the project was again taken for consideration without any progress. Besides, two major railway projects — Gopalpur-Rayagada and Rairakhole-Gopalpur — in the district have been pushed to the backburner after survey. It is all due to apathy of the railways, it was alleged.
In 2011-12, the then Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced the wagon factory at Sitalapalli. The project was supposed to be implemented in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. It was given approval in the year 2013. Later, it was then stated by the government that the project would be set up in Kalahandi. However, the project faced land hurdle there as necessary land was not available for the project.
At this time, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik intervened and over 100 acre of land was handed over to the East Coast Railway (ECoR). In the first term of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rs 2 crore had been sanctioned for the project. The Odisha government had identified 101.6 acres of land near Jagannathpur railway station, 20 kilometre away from Berhampur. But the railways had dropped the project in 2018 after sanctioning token money of Rs 1,000 in the Railway Budget till 2016.
No groundwork was undertaken despite several letters from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the successive railway ministers since then. In 2017, former Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain had replied to the Chief Minister citing difficulties in setting up the factory stating that the demand for wagons may not rise till 2024. As the proposed wagon unit was dropped from the list of new projects, the ECoR in a communication May 11, 2021 had asked to cancel the land allotment. After Ashwini Vaishnaw from Odisha was made Union Railway Minister, the issue of the wagon factory was raised by locals. September 22, 2021, a top official of the East Coast Railway visited Sitalapalli and said that the wagon factory will be implemented on PPP mode. He said that the allotted land will be taken over.
However, a year has passed since this announcement, but there has been no progress in the much awaited project, locals lamented. Various quarters observed that if wagon factory is executed in the district, it would create a big scope for employment for the locals. They have demanded for expediting steps for the project. Similarly, two other railway projects — Gopalpur-Rayagada and Rairakhole-Gopalpur — have been given short shrift by the Railway ministry. A survey had been conducted in 2009 for the new railway track for Gopalpur-Rayagada. About 12 years have passed, but neither the UPA government nor the NDA government made any budgetary provision for the project.
Besides, a drone survey was conducted for the Rairakhole-Gopalpur railway project. But it has failed to make any progress after that, locals rued. The ruling BJD had raised the issue of three projects at the meeting of its extended executive body at Bhanjanagar September 15, 2021. A year has passed since the BJD meeting, but the party MPs are not raising the issue in Parliament. Various outfits have demanded that the state government should take up the issue with the NDA government.
