Cong calls bandh over shifting of wagon factory from Odisha’s Kalahandi

Ayaskant Das Published On : Apr 4, 2016 at 9:59 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhawanipatna, Apr 4:

The district unit of the Congress today called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh on Wednesday in protest against the shifting of the proposed railway wagon repair factory from Narla in Odisha’s Kalahandi district to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Odisha: Jolt to Congress, Pradeep Disari joins BJD

12-hr bandh hits normal life in Odisha’s Bisamcuttack

“There must be a conspiracy behind the decision to shift the proposed railway wagon repair project from Narla to Visakhapatnam on the pretext of lack of land and water,” AICC secretary Bhakta Charan Das said.

The former Union minister and senior Congress leader said there was no water problem for the proposed project as the Sandol river is barely one km from the proposed site. The land losers had also given their consent to offer their land to the Railways for the project.

The Railways had conducted a series of surveys in 2014 and decided to lay the foundation stone of the project at Chapatkhanda in Narla. However, it could not be done due to the restrictions imposed by the Election Commissioner ahead of the general elections.

Das blamed the state government and the Centre for not paying adequate attention towards the project as the proposed rail wagon factory would have created employment for the local youths.