Land acquisition for major rail projects by 2015: Odisha govt

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, July 27:

Since land acquisition is posing a major hurdle in fast tracking railway projects in the state, the Odisha government has set a target to complete the land take over process by the end of 2015.

“Land acquisition for major rail projects like Khurda Road-Bolangir, Paradeep-Haridsapur and Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road is on fast track, we hope to complete the land acquisition for these projects by the end of 2015,” said minister for commerce & transport Ramesh Majhi in a written reply to the state assembly on Saturday.

The minister informed that while the government has handed over advance possession of government land for four rail projects to the Railways, some private land has also been acquired from people.

The amount of private land handed over to the Railways is Khurda Road-Bolangir (1095.91 acres), Paradeep-Haridaspur (1250.69 acres), Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road (1016.44 acres) and Talcher-Bimalagarh (168 acres).

The Railway Budget for 2014-15 has announced Rs 100 crore each for Khurda Road-Bolangir, Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road and Talcher-Bimalagarh rail links while the Paradip-Haridaspur project has been allocated Rs 187 crore.

However, the government is struggling to acquire the land following staff crunch and permission for diversion of forest land, said sources.

Except Khurdha-Bolangir, all the three projects will facilitate ore transportation for major industries coming up in the state.