Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik described the railway budget as totally disappointing saying that the State has been deprived of its due once again.
Reacting to the budget provisions for Orissa in the 2010-11 budget, the Chief Minister said against the demand of Rs 1,805 crore, the allocation has been Rs 836.64 crore. But the railways earns more than Rs 6,000 crore every year from Orissa and the average per kilometer earning of railways in the State is approximately twice that of the national average, he said.
Stating that Orissa’s demands have been ignored in the budget, Naveen said only one new line has been announced for the State. The State Government had demanded 13 new lines. Besides, only nine new trains have been announced as against the demand for 20. Even many of the announcements made in the previous budget are yet to be implemented, he said.
Naveen said no action has been taken on setting up two world-class stations, seven adarsh stations, two multi-functional complexes and medical college in the State which were announced in the last budget.
Stating that the anti-Orissa approach of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has become quite clear in the budget allocations, State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jual Oram said there is no Orissa-specific announcement in it. The minister has tried to take the people of Orissa for a ride by extending trains from Kolkata, Mumbai, Guwahati and Ahmedabad to the State, he added.
Oram said rail connectivity to all the proposed ports and industrial areas would have accelerated the development of the State. But no allocations have been made for such projects.
Khurda Road-Balangir, Talcher-Bimalagarh, Lanjigarh- Junagarh, Gopalpur-Rayagada, Badampahad-Keonjhar, Bhadrak-Dhamra, Haridaspur-Paradip-Bangiriposhi-Gorumahisani and Talcher-Sukinda railway line projects have been ignored in the budget, he said.
The BJP president criticised the State Government for not placing its demands effectively before the Centre as a result of which allocations for several projects have gone down, he said.
Describing the railway budget as pro-people, former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das said the Railway Minister has not forgotten social responsibility by not enhancing the passenger fare besides taking care of improvement of infrastructure. He praised the Minister for her target to provide railway connectivity to the entire country during the next five years.
Nabarangpur MP Pradip Majhi hailed the budget for announcing railway links for several districts which had no railway line including Nabarangpur.
It has also been announced that survey for new railway line from Junagarh to Nabarangpur and Malkangiri to Bhadrachalam will be taken up under the rural connectivity programme, he said.
CPI State secretary Dibakar Nayak has also criticised the budget for ignoring the interests of Orissa.
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