A Letter to Railway Minister: Rail connection to Bhawanipatna

To

The Railway Minister, Smt Mamata Banerjee

CC

The President of India, Smt. Patil

The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Singh

The Chief Minister of Orissa, Mr. Patnaik

MPs from Orissa

Media

Dear honorable Railway Minister, Ms. Banerjee,

Kalahandi region is considered along with special category states by Union Government of India when it comes to irrigation project. However, infrastructure development is the key to the success for such a backward region. Unfortunately in railway development Kalahandi is being neglected severely and has not yet been considered by our honorable Prime Minister to give special status along with special category states.

It is clearly evident from struggling ongoing projects such as Lanjigarh road – Junagarh in Kalahandi. In last couple of years Indian Railway has committed 50,000 crore investment only in Bihar for various ongoing and new projects where as above line is struggling for completion since past 20 years.

Fortunately, in the 2009-2010 railway budget Lanjigarh road- Bhawanipatna railway was scheduled to be completed. Kalahandi must be connected to rest of the country. Therefore, we request you to kindly extend Howrah-Titlagarh Ispat Express, Bhubaneswar-Balangir express, Raipur – Kesinga passenger, Vizag - Rayagada passenger, Vijaywada – Rayagada, Jharsuguda-Titlagarh Passenger to Bhawanipatna in the coming railway budget. Similarly, new train should be introduced from Bhawanipanta to Vishakhapatnam.

In the past Central Government has established HAL project in Sunabeda, Koraput and Ordinance factory in Balangir, both of which has brought employment potential in the local level. However, Kalahandi region was never considered by Union Government of India for any major industrial development such as in engineering, railway units etc and rather has been marginalized since independence due to political negligence.

On the other hand, national politicians have often used backwardness of Kalahandi to show case their eagerness towards the poor people in the society though they fail to scrutinize high rate of unemployment rate among semi-skilled and skilled laborer in the region.

Indian Railway has proposed to establish new factory in UP, Bihar and Kerala. Kalahandi is centrally located in South and Western Orissa including KBK, Kandhamla, Boudh, Gajapati and Bargarh districts. A factory based on engineering in Bhawanipatna region will enormously benefit Kalahandi, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Boudh, Nuapada, Balangir, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Gajpati, Sonepur, Bargarh and Malkangiri equally as it is centrally located to all the districts.

Similarly, a new East Coast railway division in Kalahandi will help to speed up the railway projects in Kalahandi, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Boudh, Nuapada, Balangir, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Gajpati, Sonepur, Bargarh and Malkangiri districts many of which are poorly connected by Indian railway.

For overall development of the region development of Kalahandi is important and I urge you to specially consider railway project in Kalahandi region as urgent and

(i)                 Extend Howrah-Titlagarh Ispat Express and Bhubaneswar-Balangir express to Bhawanipatna by renaming as Howrah – Bhawanipatna Ispat Express and Bhubaneswar – Bhawanipatna express respectively. 

(ii)               Extend Raipur – Kesinga passenger, Vizag - Rayagada passenger and Vijaywada – Rayagada passenger to Bhawanipatna.

(iii)              Similarly, extend Jharsuguda-Titlagarh passenger to Bhawanipatna and Rourkela

(iv)             Accomplish Bhawanipatna – Jungarh line completely in coming financial year and extend the railway link to Dharamgarh

(v)               Approve new Kantabanji – Khariar – Dharamgarh – Ampani – Nabarangpur – Jeypur railway line

(vi)             Establish a Coach factory in Bhawanipatna region

(vii)           Establish a new East Coast railway division in Lanjigarh road/Bhawanipatna for railway development especially in KBK-Kandhamal-Boudh region. 

Thanking You

With best regards