Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today wrote to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to intervene into the Digha-Jaleswar broad gauge rail project which is stalled since last seven years due to land acquisition hurdle in West Bengal.

“Since such an important project (Digha-Jaleswar broad gauge rail project) in Odisha has been stalled for more than 7 years, I would request you to kindly intervene in the matter and take an early decision to change the alignment so that the entire route may pass through the state of Odisha. I assure you of full cooperation for land acquisition and all other necessary support that would be needed by failways from my state,” Patnaik said.

Notably, the 41-km rail project was sanctioned by the Ministry of Railways during 2011-12. A length of 7 km of this project passes through West Bengal while 34 km of length passes through Balasore district in Odisha. Even after 7 years of its sanctioning, the project is yet to take off. The project has been kept on hold as land acquisition in neighbouring state has not progressed.

In view of this, the chief minister in 2011 had proposed the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a change in the alignment of the rail line project.

“The proposed realigned line will pass through the state of Odisha touching various pilgrim and tourist spots like Bhusandheswar, Chandaneswar and Talasari-Udayapur beach. Such a change of alignment will not only help in development of tourism but will also aid in improving the socio-economic condition of the region,” he stressed.