The inordinate delay in implementation of a good number of railway projects in Orissa has allegedly hampered development processes, especially in the rural areas in and around major urban centres like Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
Several railway projects such as Cuttack-Barang, Raja Athagad-Barang and Khurda Road-Barang are in limbo because of lack of coordination between the implementing agencies and the railway authorities.
Worried over such delays, intellectuals have knocked the door of Orissa high court seeking its intervention to ensure that the projects left half way are resumed and completed at the earliest.
Government sources said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had provided `300-crore loan assistance for doubling of Cuttack-Barang, Raja Athagad-Barang railway lines, besides tripling of Khurda Road-Barang tracks.
On October 9, 2004, the East Coast Railway (ECR) had signed an agreement with the ARSS Infrastructure Projects Private Limited for implementation of the projects within a period of 24 months. However, as sources informed, due to lack of coordination between the concerned stakeholders, the implementation of the projects could not progress and were left half way.
Although more than five years have passed, neither the state government nor the railway ministry seems to be worried about the delay. None of them has even seriously reviewed the progress of project implementation.
The high court, while hearing a petition filed recently by Dilip Kumar Mohapatra and Arun Kumar Sahoo, has issued notices to the ECR, ARSS Infrastructure Projects Limited asking them furnish reasons for delay in completion of the projects.
“In the petition, we have appealed to the HC to direct the concerned parties to complete the projects as early as possible. Otherwise, the interests paid on the `300-crore ADB loan will go waste without any gainful returns. Besides, the economic empowerment of people who would have been benefited by these projects would remain a distant dream, said the petitioners.
Several other projects like Cuttack-Kendrapara, Kapilas Road-Barang, Angul-Sambalpur, Angul-Sambalpur, Jharsuguda-Gunupur and Rupsa-Bangiriposi-Baripada are also progressing at a snail’s pace.