Jajpur: Members of civil society, social activists and locals have started a post-card signature campaign in Jajpur district protesting the delay in execution of the much-awaited Jajpur-Keonjhar Road-Dhamra railway project.
The campaign will continue till the winter and budget sessions of the State Assembly and Parliament that will start from the months of November and February respectively.
Local people have been demanding a new railway line from Jajpur-Keonjhar Road to Dhamara port for last eight years.
Jajpur town, one of the oldest municipalities of the state, lacks railway connectivity even 72 years after of Independence. People of the district headquarters town and its nearby areas either travel 30 km to Jajpur Road or 40 km to Bhadrak railway station to board a train.
Locals alleged that departmental apathy and political rivalry have delayed execution of the project. The railway department had conducted a survey of the Jajpur-Keonjhar Road to Dhamara Port new line in 2012-13. Later, the ECoR submitted the survey report before the Railway Board in April, 2015. The project will have a budget of Rs995 crore, the survey said.
But the Centre has not approved the project yet. It is not even included in the previous budget. While the Centre has sanctioned budgets for new projects like Japur-Keonjhar Road, Haridashpur-Paradip Road and Angul-Sukinda Road in the previous budget, no fund has been sanctioned for this eight-year-old demand, said Biraja Kshetra Vikas Parishad (BKVP), a local NGO.
Locals have decided to stage a demonstration during the budgetary session of Parliament. One of the members of the survey team said, the 96-km-long line will be economically viable as it will give 33 per cent profit to railways.
The line will connect the industrial area of Jajpur district and Biraja temple with deep sea port at Dhamra in Bhadrak district. It will also connect famous Shiva shrineAkhandalamani at Aradi.
As both Biraja and Akhandalamani temples are two major tourist attractions of Odisha, train connectivity between the two will boost the tourism sector of the state.
Kalinganagar has got the title of ‘Steel Capital of Asia’. Exports of industrial raw material and other industrial products through the railway line to outside the state will give a boost to the railway department.
If a new railway line is laid, people of Bari, Binjharpur, Rasulpur and Dasarathapur blocks in the district and two blocks of neighbouring Bhadrak district will benefit directly. Besides, the distance between the district headquarters town and Jajpur Road, the gateway to Kalinga Nagar steel hub, would be reduced.
The state government has been demanding railway connectivity to Jajpur town for a couple of decades. However, successive central governments have turned a deaf ear to the demand.
“We have set a target to get signatures on 15,000 postcards to mount pressure on the railway ministry on this project,” said a member of the Sachetan Nagarika Manch.
Locals have urged railways and the central government to sanction funds for the project in the coming budget.