This Odisha village lacks electricity, but gets a railway station

Balangir: PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the 15 km-long Balangir-Bicchupali section of 289-km-long Khurda-Balangir new rail line project in Odisha on Tuesday. The rail connection to Bicchupali village has been considered as a watershed moment for the villagers as they don’t have electricity connection and other basic facilities even after seven decades of independence. 

Bicchupali village under Balangir Block in the western district has only 7 households with a population of mere 20. The children of this village walk miles for their primary education. However, the literacy rate of this small village is currently hundred per cent compared to 72.87 % of the state.

The villagers need to travel around 15 km to reach hospital in the district headquarter here. But the villagers are now in cloud nine as they hope that the new railway station will certainly bring more development to the village.  

 “The railways initially planned to name the station after Bhainsapali, a bigger village. However, the people of Jhar Balangir, another village in the area, wanted the station named after their hamlet. As the station falls under Bicchupali, we recommended to the railways that it be named after it,” Balangir Collector told TOI.

A native of Bicchupali village stated that the village had a larger population earlier, but the residents migrated to other places in search of employment.

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