By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 26, 2016 : Odisha will shortly sign a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with the Ministry of Railways for the construction of new railway lines between Jeypore-Nabarangpur and Jeypore-Malkangiri, according to state commerce and transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi.

“Within a week or two, we will be signing MoUs for the construction of railway lines between Jeypore-Nabarangpur and Jeypore-Malkangiri. For the Jeypore-Nabarangpur railway line, Odisha government will provide 50 percent of the total project cost apart from providing land free of cost. Similarly, for the Jeypore-Malkangiri railway line project the state government will provide 25 percent of the total project cost,” Majhi told reporters after a review meeting of his department at the state secretariat by chief mnister, Naaveen Patnaik.

Railways have always played an important role in economic development and rapid social transformation across the globe as it is the cheapest mode of transportation. However, Odisha – a state strategically located with vast mineral resources, has been neglected for ages since British era.

By March 2014, the state had only 2540 kilometers [km] of railway lines and the railway route length in the state per thousand square kilometer or what is known as railway density, is about 16 km against national average of 20 km. Till date as many as seven districts like Boudh, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur out of 30 districts of the state do not have the presence of railways.

At present, seven districts in the state are no rail districts. The district headquarters of Kendrapada and Nayagarh would be connected with railways by 2017 through the ongoing Haridaspur-Paradip rail line and Khordha-Bolangir rail line projects, official said.