Centre Allocates Rs 9,734 Crore For Railway Development, In Odisha

Odisha has received an allocation of about Rs 9,734 crore which is the highest budgetary provision made so far and more than the state's demands for railway infrastructure and safety-related projects in the 2022-23 Union budget, a senior official said.

Though railways did not officially release the allocation figure in view of the model code of conduct for the assembly elections in five states, the official said this year's budget allocation for Odisha is Rs 2,738.5 crore more than the last year's allocation of Rs 6,995.58 crore.

This included state share and extra-budgetary resources (EBR) like loans. The state government had earlier demanded Rs 7,600 crore from the Central Budget for development of railway infrastructure in Odisha. The allocation covers the entire East Coast Railway Zone and portions of South Eastern Railway and South East Central Railway zones within Odisha jurisdiction, he said.

Out of the total allocation for the state in the Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, Rs 8,415.96 crore has been proposed for ECoR while Rs 1,287 and Rs 31.04 crore allocated for infrastructure projects and safety related work in SER and SECR respectively.

For ECoR Rs 1,806.10 crore has been allocated for laying new rail tracks and Rs 3,643.86 crore for doubling the rail lines. The highest allocation of Rs 891.55 crore has been made for 289-km Khurda Road-Balangir rail line followed by Rs 475 crore for Angul-Sukinda, Rs 300 crore for Bansapani-Daitari-Tamaka-Jakhapura, Rs 250 crore for Talcher-Bimlagarh, Rs 172.5 crore for Sambalpur-Talcher, Rs 164 crore for Khurda-Baranga third line.

This apart, the Centre has also allocated Rs 85 crore for Haridarpur-Paradip, Rs 81 crore for Jeypore-Nabarangpur, Rs 79.5 crore for Sambalpur-Titlagarh, Rs 13.8 crore for Jeypore-Malkangiri and Rs 10 crore for Naupada-Gunpur-Therubali railway line. Major allocations for laying double rail line on 23 different routes in Odisha besides making token allotment for five other lines.

Taking to twitter, Odisha BJP president Samir Mohanty said: "We congratulate and thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for allocating the record allocation of Rs 9,734 crore for railway development in Odisha."

(PTI)