House Committee to seek Rs 2,345 crore

BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly Committee on Railways will demand an allocation of ` 2,345 crore for Odisha in the 2012-13 railway budget for the expansion of railway network in the State.  The House committee which met under the chairmanship of Speaker Pradip Amat on Wednesday before leaving for Delhi finalised the memorandum to be submitted to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi. The committee will meet the Minister on Thursday. An allocation of ` 1,168.02 crore had been made for Odisha in the last railway budget as against the demand of ` 2,085 crore for early completion of ongoing projects.  The major ongoing railway projects include Khurda Road-Balangir (289 km), Haridaspur-Pardip (82 km), Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh (56 km), Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road (90 km) and Talcher-Bimlagarh (154 km). No new lines were announced for the State last year. Besides, only six express trains were announced against the demand for introduction of 16. Several other ongoing projects are also languishing because of inadequate fund allocation in the railway budgets. The slow progress of Khurda-Balangir rail project is a case in point. The Centre sanctioned the construction of the railway line in 1994-95 with an estimated cost of ` 1,000 crore. But the project has not progressed much and land acquisition has been completed for 36 km.  Laying of railway lines for the 56-km stretch from Lanjigarh to Junagarh in Kalahandi district is also facing the same problem. The project sanctioned in 1993-94 with an estimated cost of ` 142.98 crore is progressing at a snail’s pace. The Haridaspur-Paradip railway project is also hanging fire since 1996-97 due to several problems. Besides inadequate funding, the ` 1,000-crore project taken up in a public private partnership (PPP) mode is languishing due to delay in the land acquisition and other problems.  The Angul-Duburi-Sukinda-Jajpur Road project is also a victim of central negligence. The 90-km project sanctioned in 1996-97 at an estimated cost of ` 638.5 crore will provide critical link to industrial hubs of Angul, Dhenkanal and Jajpur districts.