A delegation of Odisha Development Forum met Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Jardosh here on Monday and submitted a memorandum to her demanding to expedite an array development works of the century-old Brahmapur railway station.
The members demanded to allocate more funds in the upcoming Railway Budget for construction of washing and terminal complex for trains either at Sorala or at Jagannathpur on the outskirts of the city; overall development and modernisation of the century old Brahmapur Railway Station; renovation and repair of station buildings; construction of 5th and 6th new platforms to cope with the traffic load with additional lifts/elevators; installation of coach position digital display board; adequate illumination of the entire station and platforms; more drinking water provision in all the platforms; provision of state of the art bio-toilets both inside and outside the platforms; breast feeding rooms for female passengers and construction of a world class new main station building with all ultra-modern facilities and electronic gadgets.
The memorandum also demanded for introduction of a new direct superfast Rajadhani train directly from Brahmapur to Delhi via Rayagada for the benefit of lakhs of passengers of south Odisha; immediate installation of local ticket sale machine; construction work for the much awaited “Sithalapalli Railway Wagan Factory” and allocation of the required funds in the upcoming budget for the purpose.
The forum members demanded funds in the budget for early execution of all long pending railway lines/tracks including Brahmapur-Sambalpur railway line via Phulbani; Gopalpur-Rayagada line; Gopalpur-Talcher; Gopalpur-Nayagarh via Tara Tarini; Buguda-Gunupur-Rayagada line; Jeypur-Malakanagiri line; and Malakanagiri-Nawarangpur rail line.
Similarly, the forum demanded introduction of some new daily direct superfast trains in some distant routes such as Brahmapur to Mumbai, Surat, Delhi, Jeypur and Puri and to divert/extend some of the trains which are terminated either at Bhubaneswar or Puri and extend them up to Brahmapur. Besides, any one of the superfast long distance trains should be named after any one of the great personalities and renowned freedom fighters of Ganjam district like South Odisha’s Istadevi Maa Tara Tarini, Baraputra and Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Chakara Bisoyi and Saheed Lakshman Nayak as a token of recognition of their contributions for the country.