Panel to put rly projects in Orissa on fast track

A fast-track committee headed by Orissa chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy will monitor the progress of the railway projects in the state. The committee will have members from the state government and the Indian Railways. This has been decided on Friday at a meeting between Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Railway board chairman Kalyan Coomar Jena.

?The committee will work to expedite the railway projects in the state,? Railway board chairman, Kalyan Coomar Jena told reporters after the meeting. The committee will meet once in a month to sort out problems like land acquisition, compensation to land losers and forest clearances.

Jena said issues of Khurda Road-Balangir railway and Haridaspur-Paradip railway line were discussed at the meeting. He said the latter, developed under PPP (Public Private Partnership) basis by Rail Vikash Nigam Ltd (RVNL), is facing resistance from the locals. The land losers in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara are not parting with the land and are demanding higher compensation.

The Khurda Road?Balangir railway line project is also facing problem owing to delay in land acquisition and sharing of the cost by the state government.

?The committee will look into all these matters,? the chief minister told reporters. He said the committee will expedite railway projects that are linking industrial plants and ports, besides the Khurda Road-Balangir and Haridaspur-Paradip line.

Jena also disclosed that Bhubaneswar station will be developed into a world-class railway station in the PPP mode. It will come up over 100 acre available at Bhubaneswar station site. ?Even though more land is required, we will take advantage of higher the floor area ratio,? he added.

Speaking on the disruption of the railway traffic on the Howrah-Chennai line due to flood in Orissa and West Bengal, he said it will take at least one year to put up a permanent bridge between Narayangarh and Bakharabad and resume normal traffic on the line. However, a temporary bridge will come up within three months to improve the rail traffic.