Land offered by the Govt. of Orissa between Chttarpur & Brahmapur in Ganjam district is not considered suitable for Wagon Factory on account of rail connectivity issues: Railway board reply to our comment

We had petitioned to the prime minister aginst insutice caused by Odisha Govt. while selecting site for Wagon facotry. On our commet forwared by Prime Minister Office to railway board, railway board has responsed that "The land offered by the Govt. of Orissa between Chttarpur & Brahmapur in Ganjam district is not considered suitable for this purpose on account of rail connectivity issues. This had been conveyed to Govt. of Orissa who have offered an laternative site which is under consideration by the Railway."

Below is the copy of our earlier peition to the Prime Minister in March 2011:

Dear Honorable Prime Minister Dr Singh,


I would like to petition for the following issue.

In the railway budget 2010-11 railway minister you (Smt Mamata Benerjee) had proposed one of the railway Wagon Factories in Bhubaneswar/Kalahandi.

http://india.gov.in/images/rlybudget_eng_highlights_10-11.pdf (See page 4 in the report)

However, the state Government had pointed out that there was no 500 acres of land available in Kalahandi for the proposed Wagon Factory and sent a proposal for railway Wagon Factory in Ganjam even without intimating the local district administration of Kalahandi for identification land for the proposed Wagon Factory in Kalahandi. (Dharitri, March 1, 2011 http://www.dharitri.com/010311/story10.asp)

There was serious debate in the parliament on March 3, 2011 on this issue and all the MPs from Odisha irrespective of political parties unanimously said they are not opposed to establishment of Railway Wagon Factory in Kalahandi. Indeed railway minister Ms Banerjee had categorically pointed in the same debate that if land is provided in Kalahandi another Wagon Factory could be established (available in parliament record on March 3, 2011 and reported in Samaja, March 4, 2011).

When the local people and intellectual of Odisha realized the politics played by Odisha state Government to shift the Wagon Factory from congress party dominated Kalahandi district to the home district of Chief Minister, they opposed the move.

We brought to the notice of Odisha Government that Wagon Factory in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal is being established in less than 100 acres of land (Reported Frontier India on Sept 14, 2010, http://frontierindia.net/new-wagon-factory-to-be-built-at-kulti and Decan Chronicle, Feb 28, 2011, http://www.deccanchronicle.com/karimnagar/confusion-rail-unit-369 ) and there are plenty of land available in Kalahandi.

Now another explanation is provided for the injustice saying the railway authorities visited Kesinga, Narla Road, Lanjigarh Road, and Bhawanipatna area of Kalahandi to find out 100 acres of land adjacent to the rail track and the railway administration could not find a suitable place for the purpose and moved to coastal district, Ganjam, for feasible locations for wagon factory (The Pioneer, March 25, 2011, http://www.dailypioneer.com/326657/Berhampur’s-Santipalli-to-have-wagon-factory.html ).

Anywhere in this world, a Wagon Factory just needs access to a railway track, and such connection is also easily made by railway department to link with the factory. Many coal based industries in India do have railway connection (track) and in the name of feasibility study it is surprising why Wagon Factory could be established in Ganjam and not in Kalahandi, if both the locations have access to railway track within affordable distance of available land.

It also sounds fishy why the railway authorities could not contact local Kalahandi district administration while visiting the sites in Kesinga, Narla, Lanjigarh road and Bhawanipatna.

On the other hand the major Odia local daily Samaja (March 25, 2011) elaborated with plot number details on 1000 acres of Government land available in Narla adjacent to railway track for possibility of a Wagon Factory in Kalahandi.

( http://kalahandia.blogspot.com/2011/03/1000-acres-of-government-land-available.html ).

Fortunately, all these state Government records on availability of land is proving that commerce and transport minister of Odisha had given false statement in last assembly session on March 17, 2011 (Dharitri, March 18, 2011, http://kalahandia.blogspot.com/2011/03/odisha-govt-says-it-is-unable-to-find.html ) saying there was no land for Wagon Factory in Narla.

In the similar line other major Odia daily Sambad (March 23, 2011) reported that hundreds of acres of land is also available in Kesinga, Thumaul Rampur and Narla region for possible Wagon Factory.

Beside that as per information collected there is another 100 acres of Government land near Jaring (perhaps the village name is Badchergaon) adjacent to railway track (Junagarh – Lanjigarh road railway line). Government land is also available within 2 - 3 km of Bhawanipatna railway station, 2-3 km distance is not far and acceptable for any factory and industries like INDAL, Vedanta, etc have established more than 15 km of railway track to connect their factories with main railway track.

If there is no problem with available land and there is access to railway track from these land area, we do not see why sites in Kalahandi would fail the feasibility study for a Wagon Factory.

There is serious dirty politics by Odisha Government collaborating with East Coast railway authorities while establishing railway Wagon Factory in Odisha and a backward region like Kalahandi is being marginalized.

When railway ministry and central railway board have suggested Kalahandi as one potential location for proposed Wagon factory, it is irrelevant to argue that the sites are not suitable for a Wagon Factory if land is available within affordable distance from railway track. To our knowledge, many of these locations in Kalahandi are suitable for Wagon factory in Kalahandi and injustice is being made by railway authority of East Coast railway division and Odisha Government.

I pray you to kindly look into this matter and stop approving railway Wagon Factory in Ganjam, home district of Chief Minister of Odisha, instead of Kalahandi.

Anticipating your acknowledgement in this regard

Thank you and best regards

Digambara Patra