Jajpur: Even though Railway officials exude confidence on dedicating the 82-kilometre-long Paradip-Haridaspur corridor soon, ground reality suggests that the promise is unlikely to be fulfilled anytime soon.
The railways stretch that intends to connect coastal districts of the state including Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur continues to face many a hurdles when it comes to infrastructure.
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According to a source, the ambitious project falters as a railway bridge is yet to be made functional on Mahanadi river and the railway line laying work remains halted at several places.
“Unholy nexus between officials of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and contractors concerned has resulted in unusual delay in completion of the project,” resented a local social activist of Badachana area Udayanath Sahu.
It may be mentioned here that the then Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had laid down the foundation stone of Paradip-Haridaspur railway line project April 4, 1999. It was then targeted to complete by 2004. Initially, the estimated cost of the project was Rs 1,500 crore, which later escalated to Rs 2,200 crore.
RVNL officials in charge of the project had earlier committed that remaining work from Bajapur up to Paradip will be completed by March 2020. The project continues miss deadlines.
PNN