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Even after six decades of agitations and demands, a railway line in the backward district of Nabarangpur continues elude.
Home to over 12 lakh people, Nabarangpur district comes under schedule area dominated by tribals and Dalits.
The district these days is making headlines due to increased Maoist activities. People here feel it is unfortunate that in a poor and backward district like Nabarangpur, development of rail network has so far not received much attention even after Independence. Absence of railway connectivity is being attributed as the primary reason for backwardness of the district and the heightened Maoist activities.
A report by the Planning Commission had stated: “Railways have always played an important role in economic development and rapid social transformation in every part of the country. However, it is unfortunate that seven districts of Odisha, including Nabarangpur and Malkangiri, do not have any railway connectivity.”
Intelligentsia here said that the Indian Railways makes huge profit from its operations in Odisha. “The current policy of the Railways is flawed and detrimental to the backward areas like the KBK. Of all zones, SECR, ECoR and SER are the top profit-making zones. The profit mostly comes from transporting minerals available in the backward districts of Odisha,” they said.
MP Pradeep Majhi said he had urged the government to consider railway project in the KBK region as national project. He has demanded early completion of Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh-Nabarangpur-Jeypore-Malkangiri-Bhadrachalam line.
Survey work for this line was completed long back and work from Lanjigarh Road to Junagarh in Kalahandi district is underway. This line will pass through most of the Maoist-infested and tribal-dominated areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
Majhi added that on many occasions, he had proposed a new railway line from Nabarangpur to Kantabanji via Dabugam-Jharigam-Dharamgarh-Khariar which will benefit people of Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Balangir districts of KBK region.
There is a narrow gauge railway line from Raipur via Dhantari (Chhattisgarh) which comes till the border of Nabarangpur district near Raighar.
The district administration has submitted a proposal to convert the narrow gauge to broad gauge and extend it to Nabarangpur (via Raighar-Umerkote-Dabugam-Papadahandi) by constructing a new railway line. “We had urged the Centre to consider these rail projects on a priority,” he said.
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