Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has drawn his attention to the inordinate delay in land acquisition for construction of the Talcher-Bimlagarh
railway line project and requested his immediate intervention in the matter.
Oram in his letter pointed out that due to delay in the land acquisition, in Sundargarh, Deogarh and Angul districts, the construction work of the much awaited Talcher-Bimalagarh railway line project is not taking off.
He requested the CM’s direct intervention and necessary direction to the Collectors of these three districts to complete the land acquisition on a priority basis.
Significantly, construction of Talcher – Bimlagarh railway line has been a much awaited project since sixties. The proposed line is stated to link the mineral rich areas of the State directly with port city Paradip and this route is stated to be shortest to connect the Steel City with Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
Although, the project has been officially cleared by the Central Government and reasonable amount of funds have also been sanctioned, in couple of phases, the work reportedly has been progressing at a snail’s pace. Therefore, demand for early completion of the much awaited project has been made from various quarters.
Oram in his letter also stated the status of the land acquisition in different districts and requested the CM to issue necessary directions to the Collectors of these three districts to complete the land acquisition for this project at the earliest.