Sujit Bijoy | TNN | Apr 17, 2016, 06.52 AM IST
Bhubaneswar: Railway minister Suresh Prabhu here on Saturday said the railways is planning a new project in Kalahandi.
The minister, however, was silent on whether the railways is planning to reconsider its decision to shift the proposed wagon factory from Kalahandi to Visakhapatnam, an issue that earlier led to a series of protests in the state.
"I dont want to make announcements only. We will definitely set up a factory at the proposed site in Kalahandi. It was decided to constitute a working group comprising officers from the state government and railway to examine what kind of factories can be set up in Kalahandi," Prabhu told reporters after a meeting with chief minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence here.
Prabhu said a clearer picture will emerge on the Kalahandi project in the next one to two months.
Taking a potshot at the Congress-led UPA government, the Union minister said there were only promises by the previous government but no progress was made at the ground level.
The Centre announced the wagon maintenance workshop will come up in Kalahandi in 2013-14. So far, the state government has offered two patches of land measuring 70.02 acres and 44.70 acre near Narla road station in Kalahandi district. It also granted complete exemption of water tax for the project, as requested by the East Coast Railway (ECoR).
A RTI reply from the railway authorities recently revealed that the proposed project in Kalahandi has been shifted to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The BJD and Congress targeted the Centre for "neglecting the state" on the issue. Congress observed a one-day bandh in Kalahandi in protest.
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