Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to expand the jurisdiction of East Coast Railway (ECoR) and expedite the rail project in the State.
In his letter to the PM, the Odisha CM said, “Our government has been drawing the attention of the Ministry of Railway to consider expanding the jurisdiction of ECoR to cover all parts of Odisha under one zonal railway. I have already requested on more than one occasion and I would like to reiterate the justifiable demand to reorganize all Railway networks in Odisha under zonal railways of ECoR. This would entail the following:
A new Division may be established at Rourkela under ECoR Railway, with jurisdiction covering (a) Jharsuguda-Barsuan-Kiriburu (SER) (b) Rourkela-Nuagaon (SER) (c) Jharsuguda-Himgiri (SECR) sections.
The jurisdiction of East Coast Railway may be extended to include Bansapani-Padapahar, Rupsa-Bangriposi and Bhadrak-Laxmannath road sections and a new Railway Division should be set up with division at Jajpur/Jajpur-Keonjhar Road.
The new Railway Division being established at Rayagada under the jurisdiction of East Coast Railway should include the following lines: Nuapada-Gunupur with proposed extension to Theruvali/Rayagada, Rayagada-Titlagarh-Raipur, Koraput-Rayagada, Koraput-Jeypore-Jagdalpur-Kirandul, Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh and proposed Railway lines in Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur districts.