Title - Restore ’12-13 allocation: CM to Rly Min

Terming reduction in budgetary allocation to railway projects in the State as a “gross injustice,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday wrote a letter to Railways Minister Mukul Roy and demanded restoration of the allocation made for the year 2012-13.

“I strongly protest against the step-motherly attitude of the Railways to Odisha. I further request you to take immediate steps to restore the budgetary allocation made

for the State,” Patnaik said

in the letter.

Stating that the authorities have reduced an amount of ` 186 crore from the budgetary allocation to different railway projects in the State, Patnaik said the Indian Railways earned revenue to the extent of `7,500 crore in the last financial year. The Railways had allocated only `723 crore against the State's projected total demand of ` 2,345 crore for different projects in the 2012-13 Budget. “Now suddenly again, the Railways have announced this reduction which will go against the interest of the State,” Patnaik said.

Patnaik also asked the Railways to commission Khurda Road-Puri section (doubling) before Lord Jagannath's Nabakalebar Fesitival in 2015. In a separate letter to Roy, Patnaik pointed out that the existing Khurda-Puri branch line was sanctioned for doubling during the 2000-01, but so far

only a stretch of 15 km from Khurda to Delang has been commissioned while the remaining 28.7 km is yet to be completed.

Patnaik pointed out that though about 10 lakh pilgrims visit Puri during the annual Rath Yatra, the Nabakalebara being a special occasion, which comes in a gap of about 20 years, would attract about 50 lakh devotees. The previous Nabakalebar held in 1996 witnessed a congregation of more than 20 lakh people, he said.

The Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) on Saturday mounted a scathing attack on the Central Government for reduction of the railway budgetary allocation and warned that the Congress has to pay dearly for its scoffing at the people of Odisha in the coming days.

BYJD president Sanjay Dasburma said in a statement that Odisha has always been deprived of its rightful share which has severely impeded its infrastructure in view of rapid industrialisation.

In a letter to the Railway Minister, Samajwadi Party State president Rabi Behera said an all-party delegation of the State Assembly had met the then Railway Minister with a proposal for allocation of ` 2,345 crore in the 2012-13 Railway Budget. But with no sign of the slightest respect to the sentiment of the people of Odisha, only `723 crore was allocated in the Budget. But again, this amount has been reduced by `100 crore through reassessment which is contrary to the profit the Railway Ministry is earning from this zone. He demanded that this be corrected immediately.

Behera also requested the Railway Minister to rename an Express train after famous Odia poet Gangadhar Meher whose 150th  birth anniversary is going to be over on August 2.