By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 29, 2022: Odisha is likely to be allocated Rs 6500 crore in the upcoming rail budget up by , sources said. Last year, the allocation for the state was Rs 5,921 crore.

Increased allocations are likely for the Khurda Road – Bolangir, Sukinda Road – Angul, Talcher – Bimalagarh and Jeypore – Nabarangpur New Lines. Buramara – Chakulia Road and Bansapani-Barbil New Lines may find a mention in the Pink Book for 2022-23.

Similarly, Sambalpur – Talcher, Jagdalpur – Koraput, Sambalpur – Titlagarh, Bansapani – Jakhpura doubling Projects are expected to see fund infusion. Besides, more funds will flow for electrification, station redevelopment, passenger amenities and for up-gradation of signalling system.

In the last three budgets, the allocation for railway projects to the state is going up. But the utilisation is far from expected. ed. Take the sample case of the following project. Fro instance, total allocation for Khurda-Bolangir line in 2018-19 and 2019-20 was Rs 524 crore, but utilisation till March end 2020 had been only Rs 258 crore.

As per ECoR sources, the gap in utilisation in all the 3 projects has been due to the delay in land acquisition and also to some extent the lack of forest clearance.