Bhubaneswar: The government has made yet another attempt to bring the railway station multi-modal hub project on track with chief secretary A.P. Padhi requesting the Indian Railways to provide a date for signing the project deal.

Padhi wrote to railway board chairman Ashwani Lohani that the draft memorandum of understanding for the project was finalised in consultation with East Coast Railway (EcoR) and it was scheduled to be signed on January 20. However, the divisional railway manager, Khurda Road, who was to sign the agreement, didn't show up on the day citing health reasons.

Padhi requested Lohani to intervene in the matter and take steps to sign the agreement at a mutually convenient date. The multi-modal hub project under the smart city mission envisions development of the station area with state-of-the-art facilities and a world-class station building.

The delay in implementing the project has aroused suspicion among politicians that the Centre was derailing it.

When the divisional railway manager, Khurda Road, failed to show up to sign the agreement, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said it was a conspiracy to delay the project on part of the Indian Railways and the Centre.

The bureaucrats, however, continue to make requests to the railway to sign the pact.

In February, principal secretary of the housing and urban development department G. Mathi Vathanan wrote to EcoR general manager regarding the matter.

"We cannot go ahead with the project without taking the consent of the EcoR since the property belongs to them. We have prepared the agreement based on the details provided by EcoR, but we have no idea why they are backing off. They just need to sign the agreement, we will take care of the rest," said a senior housing department official.

The multi modal hub is the biggest of all smart city projects with an estimated cost of Rs 205 crore. The government has got a Singapore-based firm to prepare the architectural plan while they have also progressed with plans to demolish the Ashoka Market.