Odisha is going to lose the benefit of a major railway line in the KBK Zone as the Ministry of Railways is quietly backing out of the project.
The much-publicised proposed Gunupur-Theruvali railway line project will be facing uncertainty of its announcement and sanction after two long years.
Way back in 2017-18 Railway Budget, the new railway line of 97 km was proposed and Rs 935 crore had been sanctioned.
This financially most viable railway project, which will not only be helpful for commuters in reducing distance between Bhubaneswar and Rayagada, but will help the industries in transportation of their raw materials.
However, after two long years the Ministry of Railways has not put up it for clearance of Cabinet Committee On Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Unless there will be CCEA clearance, the project will not see light of the day, admit officials.
Now it has come to the fore that the Ministry of Railways is backing away from the project citing poor Rate of Return (RoR).
When the project was sanctioned in 2017-18, there was proper RoR so that it was allowed to be part of Union Budget for Railways and was reflected in the Pink Book of Indian Railways.
Now, a question arises is whether the Indian Railways was not aware of the RoR at the time of sanctioning the project in 2017-18.
Once it was taken in the Union Budget for Railways, Ministry of Railways is needed to honour its commitment and should not back out in a mid way, said a senior officer.
When the Indian Railways has sanctioned a project, it was accepted that MoR will place it in CCEA and go ahead with the construction of the railway line. Now it is not happening and the project will be shelved and most likely Union Government will ask the State Government to fund the project from its own kitty, said the sources.
“If the project after Union Budget approval is being considered for dropping, is this not subverting the accepted norms and harmful for the interest of the State”, asked Rajya Sabha BJD MP N Bhaskar Rao.
Similar is the situation for Jeypore-Nabarangpur and Jeypore-Malkangiri railway projects. Both the projects have suffered delays.
The Indian Railways had signed a MoU with the Odisha Government on October 10, 2016 and till date nothing is moving and both the projects are yet to get clearance from the CCEA.
According to MoU both the projects are to be completed by 2022-23; however, the officials admit that the Indian Railways has not even filed “Land Acquisition” for Jeypore-Malkangiri Project till date.
How will these projects be completed in time, it is a million dollar question.
While these projects are in Left Wing Extremist (LWE) affected areas, it seems that the officials of Indian Railways are just not bothered about these projects.