Title - House Panel meets Railway Minister today with wish list

By Express News Service - BHUBANESWAR 04th February 2013 11:32 AM
The Assembly Committee on Railways headed by Speaker Pradip Amat will meet Railway Minister Pawan Bansal in New Delhi on Monday to present the State’s requirement in the ensuing Railway budget.

The committee will submit a memorandum to the minister demanding Rs  3,050 crore in the railway budget. It will also seek introduction of 25 new trains in the State.

It has demanded Rs  1,440 crore for construction of nine new lines, Rs 50 crore for gauge conversion (90-km Rupsa- Bangiriposi), Rs 890 crore for doubling and laying of third line in some sections. The funds demanded for the construction of new lines include Angul-Duburi-Sukinda (Rs 300 crore), Khurda Road-Balangir (Rs 350 crore), Haridaspur-Paradip (Rs 300 crore), Talcher-Bimalagarh (Rs 300 crore), Digha-Jaleswar (Rs  100 crore).

The funds required for the doubling projects include Sambalpur-Titlagarh (Rs  200 crore), Raipur-Titlagarh (Rs  100 crore), Banspani-Daitari-Jakhapura (Rs 150 crore), Sambalpur-Talcher (Rs  100 crore) and Rs 100 crore each for laying of third line between Bhadrak-Nirgundi and Bhadrak-Balasore- Khargpur and Rs 20 crore for third line between Khurda and Barang.

The Committee will seek Rs 100 crore for construction of goods sheds at 18 stations and five multi-modal logistic parks at Kalinganagar, Angul, Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Choudwar.

The State had received only Rs  723 crore from the last year’s rail budget against its demand of Rs 2,345 crore.