In Union Budget 2022-23, the state of Odisha has received an allocation of around Rs 9,734 crore which so far, is the highest budgetary provision made and more than the state’s demands for Indian Railways’ infrastructure as well as safety-related projects in this Union budget, a senior official said. Though the allocation figure has not been officially released by Indian Railways in view of the model code of conduct for the assembly elections in five states, the official said the budget allocation of this fiscal for Odisha is Rs 2,738.5 crore more than the allocation of last year (Rs 6,995.58 crore). This included state share as well as extra-budgetary resources (EBR) like loans, according to a PTI report.
Earlier, the Odisha government had demanded an amount of Rs 7,600 crore from the Central Budget for railway infrastructure’s development in the state. The budget allocation covers the entire East Coast Railway Zone as well as portions of South Eastern Railway zone and South East Central Railway zone within the jurisdiction of Odisha, he said. Out of the total allocation for the state, Rs 8,415.96 crore has been proposed for East Coast Railway while Rs 1,287 and Rs 31.04 crore allocated for infrastructure projects and safety related work in South Eastern Railway and South East Central Railway respectively.
For East Coast Railway, Rs 1,806.10 crore has been allocated in the budget for laying new rail tracks and an amount of Rs 3,643.86 crore for doubling the lines. According to the report, the highest allocation of Rs 891.55 crore in the budget has been made for 289 kilometre long Khurda Road-Balangir rail line followed by allocation of Rs 475 crore for Angul-Sukinda, allocation of Rs 300 crore for Bansapani-Daitari-Tamaka-Jakhapura, allocation of Rs 250 crore for Talcher-Bimlagarh, allocation of Rs 172.5 crore for Sambalpur-Talcher, and allocation of Rs 164 crore for Khurda-Baranga third line. Besides, the central government has also allocated Rs 85 crore for Haridarpur-Paradip rail line, Rs 79.5 crore for Sambalpur-Titlagarh railway line, Rs 81 crore for Jeypore-Nabarangpur line, Rs 13.8 crore for Jeypore-Malkangiri line as well as Rs 10 crore for Naupada-Gunpur-Therubali railway line.
