Barely two days before the Railway Budget is placed in Parliament on Thursday, nine BJD MPs met Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Tuesday to place the State’s demands for enhanced allocations for ongoing projects and new trains for incorporation in the budget.
Balangir BJD MP Kalikesh Singh Deo said the Railway Minister assured them to look into the matter. “We urged the Union Minister to sanction sufficient fund for the completion of several uncompleted railway projects including the Khordha-Balangir railway line,” said Singh Deo.
Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan said they demanded completion of doubling of railway track from Talcher to Sambalpur via Angul on a priority basis. ‘’Among other demands, we hope an express train from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi would be sanctioned for Odisha,” said Pradhan.
Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in December last year had met Prabhu and sought Rs 3,200 crore during the 2015-16 financial year to complete ongoing railway projects in the State ahead of the world famous Nabakalebar.