By the time our country became a Republic in 1950, route kms of the Railways was 53,596 kms. We have now reached only 64,015 kms, adding just 10,419 kms in 60 years with an annual average of only 180 kms. Considering the fact that between 1840 and 1950 as much as 53596 kms of rail lines were constructed, one is impressed that the average annual addition worked out to about 500 kms. For the first time ever we are now planning a major jump to complete 1,000 route-kms of new lines in one year.”If we can achieve this target of 1,000 route-kms”, the Railway Minister said in her Budget sppech in February, 2010,”we can also reach the Vision 2020 goal of 25,000 kms of additional lines”. With such a poor track-record of widening the rail network it is no surprise that today, while the country is poised for attaining even double digit growth, there still remains large areas without rail network.
Sadly, many states including Chhattisgarh; most of the North Eastern states. Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir; Uttarakhand; Odisha; Madhya Pradesh; Maharastra continue to have inadequate rail connectivity. In respect of Odisha, districts like Boudh, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Nayagarh, Malkangiri and Nabrangpur are yet to have rail lines. Rail Budgets year after year have not been able to meet the expectations of such states.
We would agree that in our country a lot needs to be done in the sector of infrastructure. We should have many new state-of-art highways and more rail net-work. I would therefore like to see an aggressive construction programme in road and railway sectors. Odisha’s genuine requirement of rail-connections needs to be met in a time-bound manner. For this to be achieved, we should adopt an appropriate strategy instead of adopting the “business as usual” approach which, in other words, means centre-bashing. A collaborative policy; just visible in respect of the Haridaspur-Paradip rail-line; may hasten many projects which are vital to the state’s speedy development. While it brings cheer that Kendujhar, Jeypore, Baripada, Paradip, Bolangir, Nuapara can be reached from Bhubaneswar with ease and people of Koraput, Talcher and Baripada can have direct trains to Kolkata, I would plead for much faster progress on projects like (i)Talcher-Bimalagarh line (ii) Parlakhemundi-Gunupur line with extension to Rayagada/Theruvali (iii)Jeypore-Malkangiri-Bhadrachalam line (iv)Khurda-Bolangir line (v) Baripada-Bangiriposhi line with extension upto Chakulia (vi) Banspani-Barbil-Rakshi line (vii) Talcher-Phulbani-Berhampur line (viii)Paradip-Haridaspur line,(ix)Angul-Dubri-Sukinda Road line,(x) Lanjigarh-Junagarh-Nawarangpur-Jeypore line. Railway density, ie, route kms per thousand square kms of area continues to be low for Odisha. I admit that this is not an appropriate tool for assessing the rail-penetration in states. Even then for illustrating the magnitude of the issue, we may use the tool to some extent. In case we aim at increasing it to the level of 30 from the existing level of around 15 to be closer to the density of states like Tamilnadu or Assam we have to increase the route length by more than 2200 kms. We should make efforts to ensure this within a period of five years. Such a programme, however, looks extremely ambitious in the context of the national plan of adding only 25000 route kms by 2020. It may not be appropriate to work towards rail-density parity among states. Railway network would always be preferred for those areas where there is greater potential of economic activity. Topography also would influence penetration of railway to an area. At the same time it cannot also be denied that railways have brought in prosperity to under developed areas. For a holistic development, development of railway infrastructure should be a judicious mix of economic and social requirements. In respect of Odisha there seems to be pressing need for adding at least 1500 kms of new lines in five years.
While the Rail Ministry is making efforts to add 1000 kilo meters of new lines in a year and is trying to increase the annual achievement to over 2500 kms in course of this decade, can we in Odisha achieve annual additional lines of 300 to 500 kms? We perhaps can. For this we have to make the state government bear a substantial part of the investment. We need to make the Railways agree to this collaborative arrangement. The other alternative could be to have a special purpose vehicle with many stake holders along with the Railways. The state government; central PSUs; state PSUs and promoters of mega industries could join and a dedicated corporate entity could avail institutional finance to take up construction and completion of the important rail lines within five years. In case we fail to put in place such an arrangement then Odisha’s demand of even important connections have to be considered along with similar demands of other regions of the country and annual additional lines may be in the range of 150 kms. Such a situation would lead to abnormal delay in completion of many worthwhile projects.
The state must take advantage of the prevailing macro environment supportive of higher growth and hasten an excellent rail connectivity within five years to become a major beneficiary of the boom in our economy. Apart from new rail lines the state should also strive for redrawing the jurisdiction of the East Coast Railway. Presently, Odisha is looked after by three Railway Zones. While for a national entity like Railways, its administrative boundaries should not and cannot confirm to the state boundaries, there seems to be need for revisiting the issue. Odisha state should have two more railway divisions of the East Coast Railway with headquarters at Rourkela and Rayagada to facilitate speedier development of important deficient areas in the state.
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( Extracts from a piece I wrote in January,2011)
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