Bolangir: The much-hyped Khurda-Bolangir rail route has turned into a project of neglect as the railways ministry is allegedly spending fewer funds on the project than what had been allocated in the Budgets, a report said. The project has failed to gain momentum and is moving at a snail’s pace despite the Union Railway Minister hailing from Odisha. This was stated here by RTI activist Hemant Panda at a press meet on the issue. Panda said that he had applied for information on the project under Right to Information (RTI) Act. The information he obtained was quite startling indicating the apathetic attitude of the Centre towards the project. He said that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced Rs 1,050 crore for the rail route in the Budget in 2021-22 fiscal and `891 crore in 2022-23 Budget.
However, information obtained from the railways ministry under the RTI Act reveals a different picture. In 2021- 22 fiscal, the Centre sanctioned Rs 1,050 crore for the rail route in the Budget but funds amounting to only Rs 295.42 crore have been spent on the project. The total plan outlay for the project is Rs 3,791.66 crore but only Rs 1,673.97 crore has been spent on the rail project, Panda pointed out. He informed that the Centre also announced establishment of a loco periodical overhauling plant at Narla in Kalahandi district by sanctioning Rs 2 crore in the last Budget.
However, only Rs 31,000 has been spent on the project so far. In 2022-23, the Centre sanctioned Rs 891 crore for the rail route in the Budget but only Rs 49.80 crore has been spent on the project till July, this financial year. Rs 1,941 crore allocated in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Budgets have not been spent during last 20 years. This means only Rs 1,673.97 crore has been spent on the construction of the rail route from 2003- 04 till July of 2022-23 fiscal. A detailed analysis of the figures reveals that the plan outlay as earmarked in the Budget in contrast with continuous low spending has only confused the people in the district.
Similarly, the state government has sanctioned only Rs 303.63 crore in last seven years from 2016-17 till 2022-23 fiscal. The land acquisition for the rail project is also moving at the same pace. Three categories of lands including government, private and forest are being acquired for the long-awaited project. It has been over 30 years since the rail route received approval but land acquisition is yet to be completed fully for the project. The government land earmarked for the project is yet to be fully acquired.
Similarly, 1,674.37 acre of land out of 1,844.40 acre of forest land is yet to receive stage-2 permission. Reports said, only 170.03 acre of forest land has received stage-2 permission while 205.04 acre of forest land received stage-1 permission. The information obtained from the railways ministry said that trains will start plying on an experimental basis from Bichhupali to its next stoppage Jharatarava from October. The distance between Bichhupali station and Jharatarava is only 10 km. It was earlier decided to make the two stations functional by 2021 but it is yet to be realised. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the plying of trains till Bichhupali, January 15, 2019. He had then said that the rail route works will be expedited. However, even the work for this 10-km stretch has not been completed within the deadline.
