Odisha's long standing demand of getting a dedicated freight corridor (DFC) was fulfilled today as Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced three DFCs in his speech for 2016-17 Railway Budget.
Of the three DFCs, East-West and East Coast dedicated freight corridors would pass through Odisha boosting the state's economic activities, an ECoR official said adding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had been demanding extension of the fright corridors for a long time.
While the East-West corridor would connect Odisha through Bondamunda-Rourkela-Jharsuguda and Brajaraj Nagar stations in the western region of the state, the East Coast corridor would connect the state's coastal districts through Jaleswar-Balasore-Bhadrak-Cuttack-Bhubaneswar-Khurda Road and Berhampur stations, a release issued by the East Coast Railway said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has lauded Prabhu's Budget for accepting the state's demand.
Besides, Prabhu announced Rs 4,682 crore for Odisha, 93.64 per cent against the state's demand of Rs 5,000 crore for 2016-17.
Last year in the 2015-16 Rail Budget, the state got Rs 2,514 crore (78.56 per cent) against the state's demand of Rs 3,200 crore, it had received only Rs 1,420.98 crore (44.96 per cent) against the demand of Rs 3,160 crore in 2014-15, state government officials said.
The Rail Budget also mentioned that the industrial town of Paradip would get special connectivity under the all India scheme to connect important ports of the country.
The Rail Budget has allocated Rs 200 crore for the development of Haridaspur-Paradip railway line.
The pilgrim town of Puri also got Prabhu's attention as he announced that the city would be developed as a national centre for religious rail tourism and would be connected with other pilgrim centres of the country, said the ECoR official.
