Ahead of the Railways Budget 2016-17, the Odisha Assembly’s House Committee headed by Speaker Niranjan Pujari on Wednesday met Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and handed over a draft memorandum seeking an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for development of railway networks in the State.
The House Committee's visit to the national capital came a month after a BJD MPs’ delegation met Prabhu over budget allocation to Odisha. According to sources, while a demand of Rs 1,050 crore was made for ongoing rail projects in the State, Rs 2,270 crore and Rs 335 crore were proposed for double line and electrification works respectively. The Committee also has demanded Rs 200 crore for setting up of special purpose vehicle (SPV) for rail projects for coal evacuation and umbrella SPV for general rail projects in the state.
Earlier on December 2, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu asking for a Rs 5,000 crore package for the State.
In the 2015-16 Railway Budget, the State had received an allocation of Rs 2,514.07 crore against its demand for Rs 3,200 crore. The allocation for the State in the rail budget was 77.04 per cent higher than the Rs 1,420 crore the state received in 2014-15.