Odisha readies Rs 84-bn railway proposals for Union Budget

Amid a political slugfest over new railway lines and divisions ahead of the Padampur by-election, the Odisha government has readied proposals of around Rs 84 billion for improvement of the railway infrastructure in the state, which will be sent to the Centre for making provisions in 2023-24 Budget. The proposals include ongoing projects, sanctioning of new lines, station modernisation, introduction of new trains, extension of existing trains, improved passenger amenities at stations and on-board services. The state government has prepared a proposal seeking provision of Rs 1 billion in the railway budget for the 142 km Nuapada Road-Bargarh Road via Padampur line that has heated up the political climate, with the Centre and the state blaming each other for the delay in execution of the project. The much-awaited 2890-km Khurda Road-Balangir broad gauge rail link project has assumed prominence with a demand of Rs 12 billion, followed by Rs 8 billion for the 154-km Talcher-Bimlagarh line, Rs 3 billion for extension of the Nuapada-Gunupur new broad-gauge rail link up to Theruvalli (79 km), Rs 3 billion for the 130-km Jeypore-Malkangiri new line, Rs 2 billion for the 250-km Gopalpur-Rairakhol new line and Rs 1.50 billion for the 38-km Nabarangpur-Jeypore new line. An official said Odisha generates annual freight revenue of about Rs 200 billion for Indian Railways. But the rail density in the state at 18 is much lower than the national average of 21 and that of the neighbouring states of West Bengal (48) and Jharkhand (33). See also: Noida Metro Rail Corporation appoints Anand Vardhan as EDKanpur Metro: India’s fastest elevated metro