Railway Wagon factory remains a non-starter in Ganjam

BERHAMPUR: Almost four years after the ministry of railways announced construction of a wagon factory in Ganjam district's Sitalapalli, about 20 km from here, the project is yet to kick off. Former railway minister Mamata Banerjee had announced the factory at Sitalapalli in her budget speech in 2011-12. Since then, it has been repeated every year in budget speeches made by subsequent ministers. The project was to be implemented in public-private partnership (PPP) mode and the ministry had sought around 100 acre land for it. The district administration earmarked around 101 acre after a joint verification by East Coast Railway and district administration. After that, there has been no progress in the project. On many occasions, chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Rajya Sabha member Renubala Pradhan have urged the railway ministry to expedite the project but in vain. "Besides writing to the ministry every year before the budget, I have discussed the matter with former railway ministersDinesh Trivedi and Pawan Kumar Bansal. They have done nothing except keeping the projectalive by allocating some money to it," Pradhan said. "The chief minister has taken up the matter with the Centre. We hope it may see the light of day before the coming general elections," she added.

Source: ToI