On Wednesday, a railways official confirmed that Rs 5993 crores had been allotted to the Odisha Railways in the Union budget of 2019-20. This has registered an increase of Rs 741 crores from the last year’s outlay. This is the highest ever railway allotment received by Odisha.
An East Coast Railway (ECoR) spokesperson said that the interim budget had provided Rs Rs 5940 crore and last year’s budget have given Rs Rs 5252 crore to the state. The fund was allocated for various projects, passenger amenities, track renewal & repairs, the road over bridges, the road under bridges, electrification and staff amenities.
He also added that the Union Budget of 2019-20 has sanctioned quite several new projects for Odisha and has allocated Rs 180 crores for the development of passenger amenities.
For several new railway lines, a total of Rs 1,400 crores have been allocated. Rs 250 crores has been provided for the 98.7 km Angul-Sukinda Road, while Rs 400 crore is earmarked for 82 km Haridaspur-Paradeep line. Funds were also given for the Khurda Road-Bolangir line, Talcher-Bimlagarh line, Jeypore-Malkangiri line and Jeypore-Nabarangpur line.
The spokesperson also said that several grants have been announced for the doubling of over a dozen lines – Sambalpur-Talcher, Koraput-Singapur Road and Budapank-Salegaon.