Remote areas of Orissa will get better connectivity says Chief Minister.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, today flagged off the extension of services of 3 trains i.e. Bhubaneswar-Koraput Express upto Jagdalpur & Puri-Dhenkanal Passenger train upto Talcher from Bhubaneswar Railway Station and Puri-Palasa Passenger upto Parlakhemundi from Puri Railway Station via video conference.

Welcoming the Hon’ble Chief Minister and other distinguished dignitaries Shri Arvind Kumar Vohra, General Manager, East Coast Railway said that ECoR made considerable progress on construction of new lines and shortly opening the section between Lanjigarh to Bhawanipatna of Lanjigarh-Junagarh new line and Khurda Road to Begunia as a part of Khurda Road-Bolangir new line including planning work on doubling of Puri-Delang section is also at an advance stage.

Shri Vohra also stated that the survey for new lines between Rayagada-Gopalpur, Junagarh-Ambaguda, Khurda Road-Rajathagarh bypassing Bhubaneswar, Kantabanji-Jeypore, Sambalpur-Brahmapur, Bolangir-Naupada, Dantewada-Malkangiri, Talcher-Phulbani and Junagarh-Malkangiri have been taken up and are in various stages of progress. To cater the rush of passengers in peak season East Coast Railway has run 559 special trains and augmented with 5113 coaches in different trains during this year. ECoR also upgraded 74 nos. of stations by executing different traffic facility works to improve efficiency and to avoid congestion.

Addressing the massive gathering, Shri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister expressed his happiness towards the development made by Railways in recent times. Shri Patnaik thanked the East Coast Railway authorites for taking all initiatives for various passenger amenities.

However, Shri Patnaik expressed his displeasure on the delay of completion of ongoing projects in Orissa and stated that the ECoR administration should be pro-active and play a pivotal role in getting all support of Ministry of Railways in completion of Railway projects in Orissa at the earliest.

Addressing the gathering Shri Pyarimohan Mohapatra expressed his happiness for introduction of train services between Bhubaneswar-Jagdalpur and also extend Puri-Dhenkanal Passenger to Talcher. Shri Mohapatra stated that in the Parliament MPs from Orissa have demanded for better passenger amenities and introduction of new trains and early completion of Railway Projects inOrissa. He has also mentioned that the Hon’ble Minister for Railways has been requested by the Govt. of Orissa as well as MPs from Orissa.

Dr. Prasanna Kumar Patsani, MP also spoke on the occasion and demanded forcompletion of Khurda Road-Bolangir rail line on warfoot basis. Bhubaneswar and Puri Station also should be given all set up facilities like world class station. Amongst others Shri Bhagirathi Badajena, Shri Bijaya Mohanty and Shri Ashok Chandra Panda spoke on the occasion. Shri Sidhant Mohapatra, MP, Jayaram Pangi, MP and Shri Gajapati, Ex-MP were present on the occasion.

At Puri Railway Station also extension of Puri-Palasa passenger to Parlakhemundi was see off by Shri Pinaki MIshra, Hon’ble MP from Puri.