Bhubaneswar, Feb 4 (IANS) The main opposition party in Odisha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), on Tuesday criticised Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over his claims of record allocation of funds for development of railways in the eastern state in the Union Budget 2025-26.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, senior BJD leader Amar Patnaik said that the Minister should clarify the amount of revenue Indian Railways is getting from Odisha in terms of freight and passengers charges every year and the percentage of that revenue Odisha is getting back as investment.
“As per the assessment we have carried out, the Indian Railways is annually getting an average Rs 25,000 crore in terms of revenue from the East Coast Railway. The Railways has received Rs 2.50 lakh crore in the last ten years from Odisha. The allocation of Rs 10,599 crore, just Rs 13 crore more than the previous year’s allocation, made for the Railways sector in Odisha is very meager as compared to the revenue the Railways getting from Odisha,” said Patnaik.
He also alleged that the step-motherly treatment meted out to Odisha is continuing even after the formation of a double engine government in the state.
“Odisha has got nothing in the union budget for 2025-26 despite having 20 MPs, three ministers, and a double engine government in the state,” he said.
The senior BJD leader also took a dig at the Union Minister for boasting about constructing 2,046 km of new railway tracks during the last ten years, which surpassed the entire rail network in Malaysia.
He accused the Union Minister of trying to deceive the people of Odisha by comparing the state with Malaysia that has less population and much smaller area as compared to Odisha.
Patnaik also urged Vaishnaw to compare Odisha’s rail network with that of Bangladesh, Spain, Australia and other countries instead.
The senior BJD leader alleged that the profit making Waltair railway division, earlier under East Coast Railway zone, that generates annually around Rs 10,000 crore revenue has been transferred to please Andhra Pradesh for political reasons.
Referring to the information shared in Lok Sabha, Patnaik said the railway network density in Odisha is less than even a smaller state like Punjab.
The BJD leader while quoting another piece of information claimed that West Bengal has a rail network density of 47.5 and the density in Andhra Pradesh is 24.3 while, the railway network density in Odisha is just 17 in 2020.
Patnaik also targeted the union railway minister for the delay in commissioning of various railway projects in Odisha.
Notably, the Railway Minister on Monday claimed that the Centre has allocated a record Rs10,599 crore this financial year. He further added that Odisha has received over Rs 10,000 crore annually for railway development over the past three years.
–IANS
gyan/pgh