The railway board’s order to shift the office of Chief Project Director (CPD), Railway Electrification, from Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru has triggered sharp reactions from the people of Odisha.
Besides tarnishing the image of Odisha, the decision would impact as many as six railway electrification projects involving 800 km in the State. They are Khurda Road-Balangir (301 km), Lanjigarh Road- Junagarh (56 km), Naupada- Gunupur (90 km), Rupsa-Bangirposi (89 km), Tata-Badampahad (89 km) and Bankura-Mahagram (118km). The approximate cost of these projects is around Rs 800 crore and tender has been awarded to three of these projects, according to sources.
As per the board order, the projects operated by Bhubaneswar unit will be closed after March 31 and manpower will be either repatriated or transferred to other projects. The order said that the existing workload of Bhubaneswar office of CPD, Railway Electrification (RE) will be transferred to Danapur unit.
The Bhubaneswar RE unit established in 1996 is independent of the ECoR and a part of Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE). The CPD, Bhubaneswar, successfully handled the double decker electrification of 40-km Jakhapura-Daitari section in 2008 and was declared a model unit worldwide. It was also recently adjudged as best project office for completion of several projects on time.
The major electrification work done by the CPD unit are Adra-Midnapore , Kharagpur- Bhadrak, Bhadrak- Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar- Talcher-Angul, Cuttack-Paradeep, Jakhapura-Daitari, Vizianagaram-Rayagada, Rayagada-Titlagarh, Rayagada-Damanjodi, Jharsuguda-Sambalpur-Titlagarh and all siding loines of Khordha Road and Sambalpur Divisions. The shift will cause huge revenue loss to Odisha and create unemployment problems. As many as 150 regular staff, 250 temporary staff will be unemployed and their family members will be disturbed. One of the most efficient and cost effective, well setup projects of India will be closed.
Sources said Member Traction Ghana Shyam Singh, who is the Head of Electrical Department in Indian Railways and going to retire in May and be an Adviser of RVNL department, approved the case with go-ahead consent from the Railway Board Chairman. It is suspected that the decision has not been taken with the approval of the Minister of Railways. It is alleged to be a case of vested interest. The decision to move the railway establishment from Odisha to Karnataka has raised many eyebrows even as the election model code of conduct is in force.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers led by Janardan Pati staged a mass demonstration in front of the CPD office in protest against the shifting decision. The party demanded that the anti-Odisha decision be withdrawn forthwith.
