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The above can be obtained by looking at the appropriate pages of this year’s pink book and last year’s pink book. Following are images cut from both.

From 2011-12 Pink book

Following are some observations based on the above:

1. Khurda Rd-Balangir: It seems 115.8 crores is expected to be spent on Khurda-Balangir line during March 2010-March 2011. This is close to the 120 crores that was allocated in the 2010-11 budget. So I am not sure why the budget was slashed to 60 crores. My guess is that last year they spent the money in building on the land they had already acquired. Now they need to acquire more new land to build and so until enough new land is acquired a lot of money could not be allocated for construction. The blame here lies with the railways for not anticipating in advance and not buying enough land in the previous years. The Odisha government should have also monitored this and prodded ECOR to buy enough land in advance. A bit of good news is that the budget speech explicitly mentions that Khurda Rd-Begunia will be completed this year.
2. Talcher-Bimlagarh: Last year the allocation was 50 crores. However, it is anticipated that 99.4-37.98= 61.42 crores will be spent on this during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is 66 crores, and the budget speech explicitly mentions that some part of this line will be completed this year.
3. Angul – Sukinda: In 2010-11 the allocation was 22.5 crores, out of which only 12.7 crores is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 27 crores (RVN) plus 169.15 crores (PPP). It is not clear where the PPP money is coming from. If it is from the Odisha government or Odisha industries then railways should not take credit for it.
4. Haridaspur – Paradeep: In 2010-11 the allocation was 101 crores, out of which 79.6 cores (=251.2-171.6 ) is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 10 crores (RVN) plus 169.15 crores (PPP). It is not clear where the PPP money is coming from. If it is from the Odisha government or Odisha industries then railways should not take credit for it.
5. Daitari – Banspani: I am not sure what the deal here is. This line is supposed to be complete. I don’t know why there is a 70 crores budget for this.
6. Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh: This line has an allocation of 10 crores and will be completed this year. Once that is done  Ispat Express should be extended to Lanjigarh Rd or Bhawnipatna and a Bhawniaptana – Bhubaneswar express should be introduced.

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Now let us move to SER.

1. Jaleswar – Digha (41 kms): Last year 20 crores were allocated to it. But only 2 crores is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 150 crores. Also due to some modification in the plan the overall estimated cost has gone up from 255.11 crores to 533.63 crores. The modification includes a segment in West Bengal. It is not clear how much of the allocated 150 crores will be spent in the Odisha part and how much in the newly tagged on West Bengal part.

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The overall new lines budget for 2011-12 is 733.4 crores. But if one takes out the PPP part then it is only 393 crores. And then, if the Jaleswar-Digha part is West Bengal centric and one takes 150 crores for it out then the total reduces to only 243 crores. Is Mamata Banerjee hoodwinking Odisha here?

See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3272 for how it compares with previous years budgets. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/4638 for a tabular listing of the new line budget over the years. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3202 for an old projection to the future.

Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

How justified is the demand to carve out a separate railway division at Rourkela under the East Coast Railway (ECoR)? Given the continuing neglect towards the infrastructure and passenger amenities over decades, the demand is gaining momentum.

With apolitical and political outfits jumping on the bandwagon to seek separation of Rourkela from the Chakradharpur division of the South Eastern Railway (SER), the Railway Ministry is likely to feel the heat ahead.

Train Passenger Steering Committee convener and Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Subrat Patnaik in tandem with the members of the Rourkela Development Forum (RDF) and Rourkela Railfanning Association (RRA) are vociferous in their demand. The local BJD unit has gone a step ahead to threaten disruption of mineral transportation by rail if the issue was not sorted out.

Locals feel, in the changed scenario, the triangular districts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda and Keonjhar – high on industrial and mining activities – would no longer tolerate further neglect as Sundargarh alone annually contributes ` 800 crore to SER.

… Inadequate train services and infrastructure apart, the lingering of the proposed Bimlagarh-Talcher rail link is a stark pointer of neglect, they stated.

Even 10 per cent of the revenue generated from the regions is not spent to benefit a population of over 50 lakh.

RDF and RRA members Dilip Mohanty, Mahendra Mishra, Mihir Swain and Supratik Mishra sent a memorandum to the Railway Ministry over the demand claiming the combined revenue share from these three districts is anything over ` 2,200 crore.  …

The fact that there is an ECOR division in Sambalpur (147 kms from Rourkela) and Chakradharpur (101 kms from Rourkela) should not be a concern as there are many railway divisions that are much closer. In http://www.rourkelacity.com/top-news/rourkelare-rela-division/ it is mentioned that there are separate rail divisions in Varanasi and Mughalsarai that are only 17 kms apart, Guntur and Vijaywada that are 34 kms apart and so on. 

The petition at http://www.petitionodisha.in/transportation/creating-a-new-east-coast-railway-division-at-rourkela/ lists various reasons why a ECOR rail division in Rourkela is needed. Please visit it and sign it.

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There is also a similar need for a railway division in Rayagada or Kesinga/Lanjigarh Rd/Bhawanipatna to cater to existing lines and to the many new lines that are coming up there. The new lines include Naupada-Gunupur and its extension to Therubali and Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh and its extension to Nabarangpur and Jeypore.  With many people in Viskhapatnam demanding that the VSKP division be split from ECOR, if that happens the Odisha part of the current VSKP division as well the above mentioned new lines should be moved to the proposed division at  Rayagada or Kesinga/Lanjigarh Rd/Bhawanipatna.

In North Odisha with several new lines coming up (Bhadrakk – Dhamara, Chakulia – Buramara, Jaleswar – Digha, ) and with the commencement of broad gauge service in the Rupsa-Baripada-Bangiriposi line a new division in Balasore or Bhadrak is warranted. SER greatly meshed up the Rupsa-Baripada-Bangiriposi line costing Indian Railways significantly. See page 8-9 of 2006-may-CAG report. These parts should also be taken away from SER.

New Lines	2006- 07	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	Spent until 2009- 10	Remai ning	Total
Khurda- Balangir (289 kms)	23	20	32.34	28.07	120	105.8	474.2	700 Cap
Talcher- Bimlagarh (154 kms)	10	15	10	10	50	37.98	722.8	810.8 Cap
Haridas pur- Paradip (82 kms)	44	20	80	70	101 RVN	21.9 Cap 171.61 RVN	299.83 RVN	21.9 Cap 572.4 RVN
Angul- Sukinda Rd (98.7 kms)	20		60	75	22.5 RVN	20.88 Cap 13.5 RVN	581.62 RVN	20.88 Cap 617.6 RVN
Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh (56 kms)	19	12	35	30	60	169.31	0.69	170 cap
Daitari – Bansa pani (155 kms)	155.6		20	60	75 RVN	367 cap 671.85 RVN	186.56 RVN	367 Cap 933.4 RVN
Jaleswar- Digha (41 kms)			Did not exist	Did not exist	20 (new)	Did not exist	235.11	255.1 Cap
Buramara – Chakulia with upgrad ation  of Rupsa – Buramara (125 kms)					under progress as an RVNL SPV.			466.5 RVN
Gunupur- Theruvali (79 kms) (Naupada  – Gunupur 90 kms gauge conver  sion is now complete)	N-G 34	N-G 25			Already surveyed. But listed as a soc. desirable project.  Odsiha should push hard for this to be designa ted as a port conn. (to Gopalpur port) project and taken up via RVN SPV.		Odisha govt. has also indicated to push this as a PPP project.
Total allocation on new lines (NL) and gauge conver sion (GC)	Rupsa – B 15.9 Other – 4.1 Total – 325.6 crores	Rupsa – B 35 other – 5 Total – 132 crores	244.34 + 65 = 309.34	275.07+ 36.14 = 311.21	ECOR NL – 428.7 ECOR GC – 5 SER NL – 20 SER GC – 1 Total = 454.7	2004 – 199 crores
New Lines	2006 – 07	2007- 08	2008- 09	2009- 10	2010- 11	Spent until 2009- 10	Remain ing	Total

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(All numbers above are in Crores of Rupees. Cap means Capital expenditure and RVN means expenditure through Rail Vikas Nigam.)

2006 had a big allocation of 155.6 crores just for Daitari-Bansapani for its completion. With that done, in 2007 Lalu really screwed [pardon my language!] Odisha with respect to the new lines by having a total budget on new lines and gauge conversion of only 132 crores. (There may have been another 20 crores in that budget in the green book.) Things picked up a bit in 2008 and 2009 and finally now, it is at a decent state.

Now we must make sure that by next year there is approval of Buramra-Chakulia and increase in the allocation for all the other projects that are not completed or about to be completed. A sample projected budget (for new lines) that we should aim for the next seven years is as follows.

	This Yr	Remai ning	2011- 12	2012- 13	2013- 14	2014- 15	2015- 16	2016- 17	2017- 18
Khurda – Balangir	120	474.2	130	130	140	100 Done	Done	Done	Done
Talcher – Bimlagarh	50	722.8	100	120	130	140	150	100 Done	Done
Haridaspur – Paradip	101	300	100	100	100 Done	Done	Done	Done	Done
Angul – Sukinda	22.5	582	40	60	80	100	120	150	50  Done
Daitari – Bansapani	75	187	75	85	20  Done	Done	Done	Done	Done
Jaleswar – Digha	NEW     20	235	30	30	30	60	80  Done	Done	Done
Buramara – Chakulia	0	467	NEW 20	50	50	120	120	120 Done	Done
Gunupur – Theruvali	0	450 (est)	0	NEW 20	50	50	100	120	120 Done
Other new lines: Puri Konark; Nabrangpur-Jeypore; Nabrangpur-Junagarh; Jeypore – Malkangiri; Malkangiri – Bhadrachal am	Lanjigarh Junagarh 60 Done		0	0	NEW1 (1) 20	NEW2 (1) 40  (2) 20	NEW3 (1) 40 (2) 30 (3) 20	NEW4 (1) 60 (2) 60 (3) 40 (4) 20	NEW5 (1)140 (2)130 (3)120 (4) 90 (5) 20
Total	455		495	595	620	630	650	670	670

Other lines that are mentioned in the 2010-11 budget and to be pursued beyond are: Lanjigarh Rd – Phulbani – Talcher, Berhampur – Phulbani, etc.

Following is an excerpt from Statesman on this.

State tourism and excise minister Mr Debi Prasad Mishra today declared that Talasari beach, one of the most famous tourist spots of Balasore district will be developed as a special tourism zone.  ..

… The infrastructure will be developed for the middle and high-middle class tourists in mind, the official sources maintained.

The minister informed that a ‘Sea Festival’ will be organized in third week of April for publicity and creation of awareness on the tourist spot. For the maiden year, the festival will be organized for about three or five days, the minister said adding that tourism and excise department will support it. The sports and youth affairs department will organize a beach sports competition on the occasion.

See also the article and the pictures in tathya.in.