Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday reviewed the Khurda-Balangir railway project and asked the Revenue, Transport and Commerce Departments to expedite land acquisition process for the project.
He asked railway officials to expedite the work on the 90-km project as land has been handed over for a 19-km stretch from the Balangir side and Rs 8 crore given by the State Government.
A stretch of 41.5 km till Rajsunakhala has been completed and two trains are running between on the route on a regular basis. “Work is currently going on from Rajsunakhala towards Bolagarh and Nayagarh. Construction work till Bolagarh will be completed by June 2016 and up to Nayagarh by June 2017. We will also begin work on the railway line from Balangir from December,” East Coat Railway General Manager Rajiv Vishnoi said.
Similarly, work for Daspalla-Balangir line is underway. The Chief Minister advised the Railways to submit a proposal for diversion of forestland at the earliest.
Notably, the State Government, as per the MoU signed with the Railways on July 20 this year, would bear the total cost towards land acquisition and 50 per cent of the total project cost, which is estimated at Rs2,000 crore.
Among others, Commerce and Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi, MP Prasanna Kumar Patsani, Chief Secretary GC Pati and ECoR General Manager Vishnoi were present.