If financial allocation was not made in the 2023 Railway Budget which will be presented on February 2 in the Parliament by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, all goods trains from Jajpur Road railway station to Bhadrak railway station would be stopped, warned trade union leader Mayadhar Nayak.
Nayak asked why the Modi Government is sleeping on the Jajpur Road Dhamara railroad project which is very old and why the MPs of Jajpur, Bhadrak and MLAs of three constituencies such as Korai, Jajpur and Dhamnagar are silent.
He alleged that the leaders are adamantly ignoring it because it will surely demolish their vote banks. How can they manage the protest of the common people and traders who will be ousted from their own land?
Building of a rail track from Jajpur Road to Dhamara will open a new corridor for the tourism industry by linking Birajakshetra, Akhandalamani, Dhamarai Temple and Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, he said.
The Kalinganagar industrial hub and Nalco industrial area will have access to a port. It will facilitate the transportation of iron ore, chromite and coal from Sukinda, Talcher and Keonjhar mineral belts. The agricultural products from the catchment areas of the river Baitarani, Kharasrota and Salandi, besides marine products like fish can easily be carried to the commercial centers and it will be of great usage to the DRDA, besides generating jobs and employment opportunities for the unemployed, he said.
Nayak further said Railway Minister Aswini Baishnav, who has been elected from Odisha earlier served as the Collector of three districts of Odisha and headed the Kalinganagar Brahmani River Pallet (BRPL) as its Managing Director.
During this period, the BRPL was sold to the owner of Triveni Company, Pravakaran of Tamilnadu and the owner of Jindal Steel Limited Sajjan Jindal. After quitting BRPL, Baishnav was elected as MP of Rajya Sabha as BJP candidate with the support of BJD and then became Railway Minister. Why is he not bothering about Jajpur Road – Dhamara rail line, he asked.