Odisha gets Rs 5,252 crore budgetary allocation for railways

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KalingaTV News Network

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Union government on Tuesday allocated Rs 5,252 crore budget for the railway infrastructure in Odisha. It received an additional Rs 150 Cr compared to last year’s budget. In 2017-18, Odisha had received  Rs 5102 cr for the Railway sector.

On January 17, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had placed a demand of Rs 6,500 crore before the Centre for railway infrastructure development.

He had demanded metro rail lines for the Twin Cities of the state, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

This apart, Patnaik had demanded six rail lines for Brahmapur-Phulbani-Sambalpur, Bargarh-Nuapara via Padmapur, Bhadrachalam-Malkangiri, Talcher-Gopalpur, Gopalpur-Sangapur road and Lanjigarh-Talcher.

The list also included introduction of a new train by the name Bakshi Jagabandhu Express to commemorate the sacrifice by Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar Mohapatra.

A new train service from Puri to Mumbai via Sambalpur and Titlagarh has also become essential; Naveen had informed the Union Minister.

The Odisha CM requested for the introduction of DEMU/MEMU services in Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela, Cuttack-Paradip-Brahmapur-Balasore corridor and Rourkela-Keonjhar via Barbil.

He also urged for initiating the ‘East Coast dedicated freight corridor’ from Kharagpur to Vijaywada and ‘East-West dedicated freight corridor’ from Jharsuguda to Bilaspur to ensure seamless movement of freight between the upcoming ports (Kirtania, Chudamani, Dhamra, Astarang and Gopalpur) on the Odisha coast including the major port at Paradip and the vast northern and central hinterlands of India.

Notably, Odisha government has demarcated rail connectivity as a ‘priority area’ with focus to extend the reach of rail network to each and every district of the state, especially on the regions that have not got the opportunity to grow with rail connectivity.

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