Top administrators in the Odisha Administration are clueless about the latest move of the Indian Railways authorities to provide connectivity in the regions affected by Left wing Extremists (LWE).
Vinay Mittal, Chairman Railway Board has written to the Odisha Chief Secretary B K Patnaik that as the Ministry of Railways has decided it that connectivity in the LWE districts will be provided.
Mr.Mittal has said that accordingly, Indian Railways will determine the requirement of such rail connectivity in consultation with the State Government.
The letter follows after the rejection of Odisha Government proposal to provide connectivity in worst Maoist affected zones of Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and several other districts by the Ministry of Railways in the Budget-2012-13.
Odisha Government in its earlier proposal said that large parts of Odisha covering the backward region of undivided districts of Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK), which remained untouched by the railways.
The State Government harped on the menace of Maoist, which is causing havoc in these regions and said that proposed rail connectivity from Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh- Malkangiri-Jeypore in Odisha will go a long way to fight LWE.
Immediate commencement of work on sections of Jeypore-Malkangiri and Bargarh-Balangir-Nuapada via Padmapur where survey has been completed will create alternative corridors for movement in the Maoist zones.
Ministry of Railways coolly ignored the proposal of the Odisha Government and even never bothered to respond the repeated queries of the State, lamented a senior mandarin in the Department of Commerce & Transport.
“This speaks volumes of the ‘Double Standard’ of the Indian Railways, which has recently written a letter to the Government for connectivity in Maoist zones”, rued he.
Mr.Mittal in his letter has said that the requirement needs to be duly examined in the State Government and Ministry of Railways to be advised about the geographical locations in the state where extending the rail connectivity would help the administration in the matter of LWE menace.
It may be mentioned here that Odisha is having LWE meance in at least 22 districts, where as most of the districts like Kandhamal, Malkangir, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada are not connected with railways properly.
Keeping this in view Odisha Government requested the Ministry of Railways to take up the proposed railway line between Malkangiri- Koraput- Nabarangpur, which was never considered in the Budget-2012-13, said he.
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