Restart railway stations: Naveen Patnaik to Centre

BHUBANESWAR: Two days after seeking a whopping Rs 5,870 crore railway package for Odisha in the upcoming budget, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday demanded the Centre for re-commissioning of railway stations at Paralakhemundi and Kashinagar.
In a letter to Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu, Patnaik pitched on the importance of the project for people of Gajapati and Rayagada district and described the historical significance of the project.
The chief minister in his letter mentioned that the Naupada-Gunupur railway line, earlier a narrow gauge line was constructed by the then Maharaja of Paralakhemundi in 1900. Of the total 90 km-line, 54 km falls in Odisha while the rest 36 km passes through Andhra Pradesh.
The line passes through hilly terrain of Odisha and use to provide rail connectivity to the district headquarters town Paralakhemundi and Kashinagar, an important trading point both in Gajapati district and the sub-divisional headquarter town Gunupur of Rayagada district, he noted.
He said the railway ministry while sanctioning to upgrade it to a broad gauge line in 1993-94 abolished all intermediate crossing stations which were there prior to gauge conversion. The section, which commenced operation since 2007-08, has only two stations at the two ends i.e. at Naupada (Andhra Pradesh) and Gunupur (Odisha).
This has severely curtailed the passenger amenities for people who earlier were served by stations at Paralakhemundi and Kashinagar.