An average of two people travelled daily from the Bichhupali railway station in Balangir district in a year since it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 15, 2019.
Data received through an RTI application by Hemant Panda have revealed this. It also revealed that the Indian Railways earned Rs 20 per day from the station in the Balangir-Khurda railway line.
Sources said the Railways spends around Rs 3.5 lakh per month as running cost of the station and the trains to Bichhupali.
“The Balangir-Bichhupali train was flagged off by the Prime Minister on January 15, 2019. The PM had then asserted that the line would help to remove backwardness of the region and boost railway connectivity in Odisha further,” Panda told a Press meet here on Tuesday.
The State Government and the Railways had signed an agreement to complete the Khurda-Balangir railway line by 2021. So far, only 77km from Khordha side and 16.8 km from Balangir side to Bichhupali has been constructed.
“It looks the project will not be completed on time. We demand that the ongoing railway line is completed on time and early construction of railway line up to Sonepur from Balangir side so that people will get benefit.”