Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha on Sunday reviewed various ongoing railway projects in Odisha with East Coast Railway General Manager Rajiv Vishnoi and other senior officers of the Railways at a meeting held at the Rail Sadan here.
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dhrarmendra Pradhan was also present at the meeting.
Sihna, who was on a one-day visit to the State, reviewed the progress of Khurda-Bolangir, Angul-Sukinda, Haridaspur-Paradeep and Talcher-Bimlagarh rail projects among others.
“We had an elaborated discussion on the ongoing railway projects in Odisha. We have allocated funds in the Railway Budget more than the demand made by the State Government. Odisha is in the list of top priorities and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has special interest in Odisha projects,” Sinha said.
He said unconnected areas of the State would be given priority and all new projects to be expedited with early tendering. Passenger amenities would be created keeping in mind the aspirations of local people, the Minister said.
He advised the ECoR to prepare a roadmap for next 25 years’ Industrial progress of Odisha and said connectivity to the Ports would be improved.
The Petroleum Minister said, “We have received good suggestions from industries as well as the State Government. We had a discussion on how to implement various suggestions on development of railway infrastructure. I hope the Railways would allocate adequate funds for the State,” Pradhan said.
later in the day, Sinha participated in the centenary celebrations of the East Coast Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School at Khordha Raod.