leaders of BJD, BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(Ml), TMC, OJM, RPI, FB, JDU, AAP and Kalinga Sena have jointly opposed division of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) and cancellation of the Jharsuguda-Raipur railway line. The leaders joined a convention organised by the Samajwadi Party State Committee here on Monday.
They decried the move of the Railway Minister and maintained that it is anti-Odisha and a policy of appeasement and against the norms of Indian Railways which symbolise national integration and unit of the country. Abasara Behuria presided over the convention. litterateur Satakadi Hota also attended the meet and demanded formation of three new railway divisions such as Rayagada, Rourkela and Baleswar. Samajwadi Party State unit president Rabi Behera said the separation of Waltair Division would render ECoR economically ruined.
“People of Odisha should be united to oppose the move,” Behera stated. Among others, MlA Amara Satapathy, former MP Mohan Jena, former MlA Radhakanta Sethy, former MP Nakula Nayak, Hemanta Rath, Abdul Walli, Jyotiranjan Mohapatra, Sura Jena, Santosh Das, Harish Mohapatra, Chandramani Nayak, Shivananda Ray, Aryakumar Jnanendra, Pritihiraj Harichandan and student leader Tapan Mishra also attended the convention.