Rourkela: Alleged political interference has stalled the development of a third railway track passing through the station in this town. The foundation for the third track was laid way back in 2015. However, with only 8-9 kilometres left for completion, the project has been stalled. This particular track once completed, will connect Jharsuguda to Howarh. It has reached Bandhamunda on the eastern side and Klunga on the western side. After that, there has been no development. The initial plan was to complete the project in three years.
However, now uncertainty hangs over its completion. Rourkela is a very important railway junction with 170 different kinds of trains passing through it. These days’ the majority of trains passing through Rourkela get delayed, because of severe congestion. Many important trains are forced to wait outside the station for lengthy periods due to a shortage of tracks. The third track would have helped in the smooth movement of trains. The Railways has completed the third bridge over Brahmani River. However, the presence of nine slums on Railway land between the station here and Panposh has delayed the completion of the project. These nine slums are home to over four thousand families and hence are very crucial for all the major political parties.
As a result, no one dares to take any steps for clearance of the land. The Railways and district administration officials have met a number of times to work out a possible plan for freeing the land. However, nothing fruitful has worked out. “Nothing has happened and nothing will,” said a top Railway official on conditions of anonymity. “The families had moved court and it ruled against them. However, nothing has happened because of political compulsions,” he added. The Railways had given notice for eighty-five feet of land to be freed from the tracks. The encroachers wanted this to be sixty-five feet. They had gone to the court but lost. Repeated attempts to talk to the ARM of Railways and ADM Rourkela failed as they did not respond to calls.
RAJESH MOHANTY, OP
