By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI/KENDRAPARA: Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was on Wednesday wrote to Union Railways, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to inaugurate the 82 km long Haridaspur-Paradip Railway line connecting 3 costal and mineral rich districts of Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The Union Minister Pradhan urged the Railway Minister Goyal to keep in mind the historic importance of the Paradip – Haridaspur new rail line project for the development of Odisha and eastern India. Prime Minister’s commitment and drive to realize the vision of Purvodaya will be realized by the opening of the new line.
In a letter to Goyal on Wednesday, Pradhan said the 82 KM rail link between Paradip and Haridaspur passing through Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Jajpur districts, is the widely anticipated railway line in the state since sanctioning of the project in 1996. The laying of foundation stone in 1999 was done under the leadership of former Prime Minister, Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Union Minister added. Pradhan in his letter has described the rail line as the harbinger of economic prosperity for the region.
In his letter, he further said that many public representatives including Members of Parliament from Odisha showed keen interest in the project and had appealed to the Ministry of Railways for completion of the new line in his presence.
Earlier on Tuesday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Minister Goyal urging him to run passenger trains as soon as possible between Haridaspur-Paradip route.
Chief Minister Patnaik in his letter said the 82 km new line is connecting Kendrapada district to railway map for the first time. The letter said as connecting all unconnected districts through railways is a stated policy, his government invested in equity as sought by railways to make this project economically viable.
While most work for commissioning of the line is now completed, running of passenger traffic over this new line, to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Kendrapada district is required to be finalized now, the letter added.
The SPV Company, as per requirement, has already recommended to Ministry of Railways for approval for running Passenger trains. It is important to understand the connectivity needs of people and especially for people of Kendrapada district, who have not seen a passenger train as yet, the CM in his letter said.
Odisha CM said the railway project is being executed through an SPV company called HPRCL in which Govt of Odisha, Ministry of Shipping and Indian Railways have a similar share in equity.The letter said the project has taken an extremely long time for commissioning but with continuous monitoring, it has finally come to the commissioning stage.
The Odisha Government has waived off all Stamp Duty, Registration Fee and also Premium on land along with direct monetary equity support to this railway project.
The letter appreciated Goyal’s efforts for commissioning railway new projects and added the people of Kendrapada must get the connectivity. The CM said efforts should be made to that a passenger train can be flagged off on this new line at the earliest, preferably in the month of August 2020.
India’s one of the much talked about Railway Projects connecting mineral rich –Kalinganagar Haridaspur region of Jajpur-Keonjhar mining belt with Port city of Paradip in Jagatsinghpur through politically sensitive costal pockets of Kendrapara, the ‘Karmabhoomi’ of late legendary Biju Patnaik, few days back saw the Trains rolling on tracks.As many as 31 bridges and 171 minor bridges have been constructed over rivers, canals and other water bodies for the project.
The project, of 82 KM railway line was sanctioned in 1996-97, aims to facilitate movement of freight, export of finished products of steel plants and imported coking coal from Paradip to industries. The Kalinga Nagar industrial hub along with the mining belts of Jajpur and Keonjhar districts will be direct users of the railway line.
The then Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had laid the foundation stone of the project near Marshaghai in the district on April 4, 1999 when late Bharat Ratna, AB Vajpayee was Prime Minister and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was Union Steel Minister and had promised to complete it by 2004. In November 2019, the State Government had directed officials concerned to complete the project within the extended deadline of March, 2020 and finally in July , it was commissioned.
