Odisha is celebrating the biggest largesse from the Railway Budget 2016-17, while Tamil Nadu has slammed it despite getting a Dedicated Freight Corridor.
The eastern state, run by an opposition party that is not part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), thanked Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for a 30 per cent increase in outlay in the Railway Budget over last year, although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled out any political realignments.
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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for allocating Rs 4,682 crore to the state. "Total outlay for Odisha for 2016-17 is Rs 4,682 crore, against a demand of Rs 5,000 crore, a 30 per cent rise from last year's Budget outlay. We appreciate the enhancement in outlay and request the railway minister not to revise this downwards like last year," stated Patnaik, noting that last year's actual allotment was 35 per cent less than the original allotment for Odisha. Noting his government has been offering to bear construction cost and giving land free to important projects, he thanked the ministry for accepting the offer of partnership and sanctioning the two important long-sought projects of Jeypore-Malkangiri and Jeypore-Nabarangpur.
"The state's demand for sanctioning the other economically viable lines has been accepted by the railway minister and we are thankful for the sanction of Junagarh-Ambaguda via Nabarangpur, Bereahmpur-Sambalpur and Banspani-Badbil lines with partnership of the state," said Patnaik.
Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, while getting an auto hub for the railways and a Delhi-Chennai (north-south) dedicated freight corridor, says it hasn't got enough. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said the freight corridor proposed on eastern coast, terminating in Vijayawada, "ought to have been extended" to Thoothukudi (in Tamil Nadu).
"This would have fulfilled Tamil Nadu's long standing request to create a Chennai-Thoothukudi dedicated freight corridor." Inexplicably, NDA ally Vijayakanth and PMK leader Ramadoss have also criticised the Budget, possibly a sign of the alignments that are to come in the forthcoming Assembly elections due in the next two months.
He also expressed his gratitude for accepting the demand for extending the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) from Kharagpur to Vijayawada through coastal Odisha. Patnaik also hoped that the railway ministry would consider the demand of the government for a Rail based Mass Rapid Transit System for greater Bhubaneswar area, considering the fact that Bhubaneswar has now emerged as the number one Smart City in the country.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who hails from the state, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the railway minister for an allocation that would help develop rail infrastructure in the state, saying it proves the Centre is giving importance to the eastern parts of the country.
Two former Congress ministers from the state, KC Lenka and Bhaktacharan Das have also welcomed the allotment. However, Odisha Congress president Prasad Harichandan said the budget has nothing new for Odisha. "The railway budget is disappointing. There is no provision of new trains and new projects for the state," said the PCC president.
Interestingly, while Tathagata Satpathy, BJD Lok Sabha MP from the state has criticised the budget, Pinaki Misra, another BJD MP has said nothing on it at all. BJP is eyeing Odisha as an important eastern outpost that it hopes to conquer in the next assembly elections due to be held concurrently with the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
