The demand for establishment of a Railway Division in Baleswar has been gaining momentum. A meeting was held on Sunday by a civil society organisation where the speakers justified the demand.
They pointed out that Baleswar is a prime location of the Indian Railways which is connecting the east with the south. A good amount of revenue is being generated though passenger and goods transportation from here. Baleswar houses several important establishments including those of the Defence Ministry. Besides there is a junction at Rupsa which connects up to Bangriposhi and has a further plan to connect up to Tatanagar.
The Baleswar railway station became operational since 1980s and the stations between Jaleswar and Cuttack have proved viable in all terms. The railway line between Bhadrak and Dhamra is already in operation while the work for the Jaleswar-Digha line is in progress.
Both the Bhadrak-Dhamra and Jaleswar-Digha lines would be quite commercially viable because of the port activities. While the Dhamra Port is already operational, a Subarnarekha port is in the offing.
While there is a plan for a rail line to connect Badampahad and Keonjhar, there would be a connection between Gorumahisani, Badampahad, Tatanagar and Chakulia, etc. These lines would be very much helpful for the transportation minerals, the speakers maintained.
Considering all these factors, there should a division in Baleswar taking Bhadrak, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj into its fold. Currently, there is only one division in Kharagapur for north Odisha, which is being neglected. Although there was a proposal to establish a division in Baleswar as far back as in 1987, it couldn’t be materialise due to unknown reasons, the speakers said.
The speakers also pressed the longstanding demand for running of a passenger train between Baleswar and Nilgiri on the existing line which is being used for goods transport. They also said a memorandum incorporating the demands would be given to various concerned authorities on Friday under the banner of the Baleswar Rail Division Establishment Action Committee. If needed, agitation would be resorted to for realising the demands, said committee convener Ashok Senapati.
Former MlA Pradipta Panda, Baidyanath Sarangi, Sambhunath Mohanty, Kulamani Barik and Bhagban Chandra Rout were among those who put forth their views.