Railway Budget shows no ‘mamata’ for Berhampur or South Orissa

• Coaching Terminal Complex denied to Berhampur
• Berhampur-Phulbani, Gunupur-Therubali &  Nowrangpur-Jeypore railway lines socially desirable but final sanction has to come from Planning Commission
• Multi Functional Complexes for Berhampur and Rayagada railway stations
• General Speciality Hospital at Berhampur
• Port connectivity for Gopalpur proposed under PPP route
• South Orissa will have to wait for a railway division
• BBSR-Koraput Hirakhand Express extended upto Jagadalpur (Good news for Jayapur)
• Gunupur-Naupada local to start after Gauze conversion
• Extension Orissa Sampark Kranti upto Berhampur overlooked
• Demand for Berhampur-Rourkela and Berhampur-Koraput trains ignored
• Frequency of Puri-Ahmedabad and Visakhapatnam-Amrisar trains has not been increased
• Wagon Manufacturing factory announced for Orissa but state Govt will decide the location

RP Tripathy

The Railway Budget 2010-11 is high on promises with no clarity on budgetary provisions. Orissa has benefited by default on some counts, being the neighbouring state of the Railway Minister. The East-Coast dedicated corridor and the Wagon Manufacturing factory under PPP route sanctioned for the state could be termed as two most significant announcements for the state. But, unfortunately the Railway Budget has not given the much needed attention to South Orissa and KBK regions. The biggest blow has been in the front of the much needed introduction of new trains. Except for two Bharat Tirtha Express trains and the Howarh-Puducherry weekly express no other train will benefit the southern region of the state. The Bhubaneswar-Koraput Hirakhand Express has been extended upto Jagadalpur, but the demands for Berhampur-Koraput, Berhampur-Rourkela, Berhampur-Surat trains have been ignored. The frequency of Samata Express has been increased but the demand for raising the frequency of the Visakhapatnam-Amritsar Hirakund and Puri-Ahmedabad Express trains has been overlooked. The Gunupur- Naupada Passenger train announced in the Budget won’t help the people much as they have been demanding for a Gunupur-Berhampur-Puri train. The demand for extension of Orissa Sampark Kranti train upto Berhampur has also been bypassed. Though the Berhampur-Phulbani, Gunupur-Therubali and Nowrangpur-Jeypore railway lines have been included under the socially desirable railway projects but the final sanction of these lines will be subject to clearance from the Planning Commission. So, it will be premature to say that these lines have been sanctioned in the Rail Budget. The Railway Budget does talk about Port connectivity for Gopalpur under PPP route, but it ignores the proposals for Gopalpur-Talcher and Gopalpur-Rayagada lines even though the former has a favourable RoR in excess of 15%. Berhampur and Rayagada stations have been sanctioned Multi Functional Complexes and a General Speciality Hospital has been sanctioned for Berhampur station which is a welcome step but the much needed Coaching Terminal Complex at Berhampur railway station, modernization of Berhampur railway station and creation of a new Railway Division for South Orissa are missing from the proposals. The decision regarding the Wagon Manufacturing factory has been left to the state government and going by the persistent demands from southern Orissa and KBK for a railway manufacturing unit for last many years, its establishment in this backward region would be of great significance. On the whole, the Railway Budget has nothing significant for Berhampur and the southern region of the state, but, it is certainly better than the Railway Budget of the previous year which had completely forgotten Berhampur and South Orissa.