There would be no shifting of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) Zonal headquarters from Bhubaneswar to Visakhapatnam.
This has been confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a reply to an RTI query filed by activist Hemant Kumar Panda.
As per the information collected by the RTI activist about a number of pending railway projects in Odisha, there has been no work on the 310-km Raipur-Jharsuguda railway project included in the Railway budget last year as the project is waiting for the approval of the Planning Commission and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Besides, some of the railway infrastructure development projects, demanded by the Odisha Government in view of the Nabakalebar Rath Yatra, is yet to be completed.
There was a proposal for trebling of Khordha Road-Bhubaneswar-Barang railway track and doubling of rail track between Cuttack and Barang in 2003-04. While the trebling of Khordha Road-Bhubaneswar railway track has been completed, work on the remaining stretch between Bhubaneswar and Barang is yet to be completed. Besides, the doubling Cuttack-Barang railway track is not yet completed.
Though there is a proposal for doubling of railway track between Khordha Road and Delang, the doubling of 28-km Delang-Puri route is not completed.
There is a plan for construction of a Rs 20-crore 1.3-km bypass railway line to divert the Puri-bound trains to avoid extra rush during Nabakalebar by July. Keeping in view the heavy rush of passengers during Nabakalebar, there is need for expansion of the Bhubaneswar and Puri railway stations.
Besides, the ECoR has also planned to construct a huge passenger rest shed in Puri before Nabakalebar and a state-of-the-art station building in Bhubaneswar at a cost of Rs 80 crore, of which the State Government would bear half of the cost.
Instructions have been given to complete these projects by the end of July this year.