Monday, November 30, 2009

NRI activist bats for coach factory, auto hub in Kalahandi

The Pioneer, Nov 30, 2009
PNS | Bhubaneswar

Noted Odia NRI activist Digambara Patra has written an e-mail to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing his anguish over the exclusion of Odisha from the list of the 15 auto hubs proposed by the Indian Railways across the country.

Patra, who is an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at American University of Beirut, has also sent copies of the e-mail to President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, MPs from Odisha and mediapersons requesting to establish a coach factory as well as an auto hub in Bhawanipatna region in view of its great potential in industrialisation, mainly in metal sector which is important for auto industries.

He lamented that while Indian Railways is establishing new railway industries in backward pockets of West Bengal, it is neglecting similar pockets in Odisha. Out of the proposed 15 auto hubs, at least two are located in West Bengal, and out of 15 proposed railway medical colleges across the country, four are proposed in West Bengal and only one is proposed in Odisha, he pointed out.

He said that in the last couple of years Indian Railways has committed investment of Rs 50,000 crore only in Bihar for various ongoing and new projects where as the Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh rail project is struggling for completion since the past 20 years. The Central Government established HAL project in Sunabeda and Ordinance factory in Balangir, both of which brought employment potential in the local level. However, Kalahandi region was never considered by the Government for any major industrial development and rather has been marginalised since independence due to political negligence, he said.

He has alleged that national politicians often use backwardness of Kalahandi to showcase their eagerness towards the poor people though they fail to scrutinize high rate of unemployment in the region.

He said a new East Coast Railway division in Kalahandi will help to speed up 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 Railways. He has proposed extension of Howrah-Titlagarh Ispat Express, Bhubaneswar-Balangir Express, Raipur-Kesinga Passenger, Waltair-Rayagada Passenger, Vijaywada-Rayagada Passenger and Jharsuguda-Titlagarh Passenger to Bhawanipatna and introduction of a new train from Bhawanipatna to Visakhapatnam.

He has further urged for speedy completion of Bhawanipatna-Junagarh railway line with extension to Dharamgarh, approval of new Kantabanji-Khariar Road-Dharamgarh-Ampani-Nabarangpur-Jeypore railway line, establishment of a rail coach factory in Bhawanipatna region and a new East Coast Railway division in Lanjigarh Road or Bhawanipatna.

Kalahandi region is considered along with special category States by the Centre when it comes to irrigation project. But infrastructure development is the key to success for such a backward region and Kalahandi is being neglected severely in railway development, he lamented.

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