No mention of Bansapani- Barbil rail link in the Rail Budget presented in the Parliament recently has sparked resentment among the locals in Barbil and Joda.
The Barbil Vikash Parishad has threatened to hold a sit-in against the apathy of the Central Government as the project which is of 18 km distance, has been a long standing demand.
Convenor of the Parishad Indramani Behera and Hrishikesh Jena and Sushanta Kumar Kar both of whom are representatives in the District Planning Board have clarified this.
Sources revealed that at present the Puri - Chakradharpur express train which has been extended up to Rourkela has to cover extra 80 km via Barbil to reach the destination. It takes more than two hours to reach Barbil from Bansapani via Danguaposi. Last year, the Barbil Bikash
Parishad and the Joda Vikash Parishad had held a dharana in demand of the rail link. However ,the agitation was called off after the Railway Ministry had given a green signal for the same.
The rail link project is situated in the Asia' s largest iron corridor from where every year the Government is collecting crores of rupees as revenue. Hence, fund is not a problem for the project .Only there is lack of political will power, Behera told.
He alleged that though CM Naveen Patnaik is writing frequent letters to the Modi Government for different projects, but not a single letter has been written by him about Barbil- Bansapani rail link.
Similarly, former Block Chairman Giridhari Naik and others of Joda have demanded a railway station near Bachu hatting in Ward No. 10 of Joda town.
It may be noted that the Central Government in its interim Rail Budget 2019-20, has allocated Rs 92 crore for the development of infrastructure in Keonjhar district. Rs 85 crore has been allocated for the doubling of Banspani- Jakhapura rail line, the work of which is under progress.
Similarly, Rs 8 crore has been allocated for construction of an over bridge near Barbil. But no budget has been sanctioned for the Barbil- Bansapani rail link.