Bhubaneswar: For the first time, the Union Government has sanctioned the highest number of railway station development projects for Odisha, said Union Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw here.
Work has been started at the land of Lord Jagnnath for making the Puri railway station a world-class station while work for Bhubaneswar city is also started meanwhile, he said.
Similarly, the railway stations at Sambalpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Rayagada, Berhampur, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Balasore, Dhenkanal, Angul, Talcher, Paradip, Balugaon, Mancheswar, Jeypore, Paralakhemundi, Titlagarh, Bolangir, Kesinga, Bargarh, Kantabanji, Bhawanipatna, Jharsuguda Road, Redhakhole, Baripada, Jaleswar, Barbil, Rairangpur, Jharsuguda Jn and Brajarajnagar will also be redeveloped as world-class station, said the Railway Minister.
He also informed that work has been completed at Khurda Road station.
“Such a large number of projects is not going on in any other State in the country,” Mr.Vaishnaw said while addressing at the National Summit on Climate Change and Developing Resilience in Odisha organized by Nature Care Initiaitve (NCI) here on Sunday.
The sanctioned new railway line projects are–Jeypore-Nabarangpur, Jeypore- Malkangiri, Raipur-Jharsuguda, Sambalpur-Gopalpur, Koraput-Jagdalpur, Rourkela-Jharsuguda, Junagarh-Nabarangpur, Rourkela-Bondamunda, Muramura- Chakulia and Banspani-Barbil. New projects have been sanctioned for all most districts of the State, he pointed out.
The Union Minister further said that the target is there to electrify the entire railway network in the country by 2026 and most of the power supply will come from renewable sources like solar and wind. Diesel engines will become history, he said.
“A day was there, when we were demanding for sufficient allocation for Odisha in the railway sector. Prior to 2014, Odisha was getting nearly Rs 800 crore for railways. For a big State like Odisha, this fund is highly insufficient,” said the Union Minister.
When the Modi Government came to power, he raised the funding for Odisha to Rs 8000 crore. As the PM had asked three Ministers to work for Odisha under Purvodaya, now Odisha got a major share in the railway sector, he said.
“The Prime Minister has asked me to give special emphasis to railway projects in Odisha. And, I have allocated Rs 10,000 crore for Odisha in the last budget,” said Mr.Vaishnaw.
The Union Minister also said that to digitally connect all villages of Odisha, the Centre has sanctioned 10,000 new telecom towers for the State, which is highest in the country.
Reviewing the activities of telecome behemoth BSNL here, he said 10,000 new telecom towers have been sanctioned for Odisha. Such a large number of towers have not been sanctioned for any other State, he said.
He said that this is for the first time a State is allocated such a number of telephone towers.
In many locations, towers will start functioning from next November, informed the Minister.
He requested the State Government to extend necessary assistance where land has not been allocated so far.
Mr.Vaishnaw further said that on the direction of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Centre of Excellence for semiconductors have been sanctioned for IIT, Bhubaneswar and NIT, Rourkela. Now, students of these two institutions will be able to compete with the world in innovation of new technology, he added.
The Union IT Minister also informed that 5G Laboratories will be opened at IIT, Bhubaneswar and SOA University. He urged the intellectuals and experts from Odisha to suggest a name of Western Odisha technical university, where such a lab can be set up.
Earlier, Mr.Vaishnaw has stated that nearly about 6,000 villages in Odisha have remained out of mobile connectivity due to lack of mobile towers.
“There is a clear instruction from the Prime Minister that not a single village of Odisha should be left out from mobile connectivity. The PM has asked us to conduct a survey and come out with a Cabinet note, if any village has still left out. This is what we called Mission Purvodaya,” the Minister had said.
For timely implementation of all these projects, we are ready to knock on the doors of any office. As the State Government is providing Stage-I forest clearance, land, tree cutting permission, he requested Odisha Forest Minister to provide necessary support for the same.