Nabarangpur: Land hurdles have hampered the progress of the long-awaited Jeypore-Nabarangpur railway line under East Coast Railway. Now, the administration has laid stress on expeditious land acquisitions, a report said.
According to reports, a review meeting on the project was held at the Mission Shakti conference hall here Wednesday. It was chaired by Nabarangpur MP Ramesh Chandra Majhi.
The state government is committed to providing free land to the project. But the amount of land required for the project has not been acquired till date.
At the meeting, Collector Ajit Kumar Mishra assured that staff would be engaged for land acquisition, which will be carried out within 45 days. Public hearings will be organized over the project and the land acquisition, he added.
As per information, the Jeypore-Nabarangpur railway line will be laid for 45. 35 km while a stretch of 11 km will be constructed through Nabarangpur. It was learnt that 149.927 acres of private land and 5.418 acres of government land will be acquired in Nabarangpur sadar area, Daibhatta, Gadabaguda and Padalguda.
A map for the land acquisition has been drawn up. This railway project entails construction of nine big bridges, 51 small bridges and two stations.
It was decided that land acquisition will be carried forward as soon as possible. Jeypore sub-collector represented the Koraput district administration at the meeting. He presented detailed data about the size of land to be acquired in Koraput.
Next review meeting on the project will be held towards the last week of February in Koraput. At this meeting, officials of the Malkangiri district administration will be present. The review meetings could not be held due to the pandemic situation.
It may be noted here that this railway project has been approved in 2016-17. The MP said the project will be carried forward as soon as land is acquired.
Jeypore sub-collector Hemakanta Das, SSE of East Coast Railway’s Jagdalpur division TV Ramana, Nabarangpur ADM Nimai Charan Sutar, sub-collector Bhaskar Raito, Nabarangpur MLA Sadashiv Pradhani and tehsildars of Nandahandi and Nabarangpur were present.
PNN