Financial Commissioner of Ministry of Railways, Railway Board BN Mahapatra on his visit to the East Coast Railway on Friday reviewed the performance and progress of ongoing railway projects with ECoR General Manager Umesh Singh and other Principal Heads of the Departments of ECoR at the Rail Sadan here. Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) of Khurda Road, Sambalpur and Waltair were available in videoconferencing.
The following were the highlights of the meeting:
(1) Safety and punctuality in train operations is the top most focus area. Regular stress on inspections and procedures are to be continued.
(2) There should be more personal supervision and super checks on safety aspects at higher levels during inspection.
(3) The Financial Commissioner was happy with the working of the ECoR and with the progress of projects. All works on projects are going on as per target and will be reviewed regularly.
(4) Unconnected areas of Odisha/AndhraPradesh/Chhattisgarh will be given priority in linking.
(5) No financial constraints to speed up/implement projects. Plenty of funds already made available.
(6) Seeking cooperation from all agencies to complete the projects in time.
(7) All new projects to be expedited with early tendering following due procedure.
(8) Focus on passenger amenities: Keeping in mind aspirations of local people in this region, The ECoR was advised to take local views and demands into consideration. Extra funds will be given to improve passenger amenities.
(9) Connectivity to ports should be improved.
(10) The Khurda Road-Puri section has been declared a Green Corridor, i.e., there will be no human waste on the track from train toilets. All trains starting from Puri should be fitted with bio-toilets by September this year.