Bhubaneswar, Oct. 12: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today urged Union railway minister C.P. Joshi to take immediate steps to restore the original budgetary allocation made for the state for 2012-13.

Protesting against the reduced budgetary allocation for the East Coast Railway, Naveen, in his letter, said he had come to know that Indian Railways, which in June, had reduced Rs 186 crore from the original budgetary allocation of Rs 723 crore for the state, further slashed down the allocation by Rs 34 crore.

This includes Rs 2 crore each from the original budget grant on three major ongoing projects, including new broad gauge rail link projects such as Khurda Road-Balangir, Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh and Talcher and Bimalagarh. The three projects are considered vital for industrialisation of the state.

“This is against our projected total demand of Rs 2,345 crore for various projects in the state for 2012-13. When the state contributes revenue of more than Rs 7,500 crore annually to the Indian Railways, it is a matter of regret that Rs 220 crore has been reduced out of the budgetary allocation of Rs 723 crore. Such reductions will greatly hamper the process of better connectivity in Odisha,” Naveen said.

The chief minister further said such reduction time and against resulted in delay in completion of railway projects and led to discontentment among the people of the state. On an apparent direction from the chief minister, the BJD today hurriedly called a news conference and protested against the decision of the UPA government to reduce the rail budget.

BJD youth wing president Sanjay Dasburma said: “The party will protest against the railways’ discrimination to Odisha. We will soon submit a memorandum to governor M.C. Bhandare.”

The party is also planning to launch a statewide agitation against the stepmotherly attitude of the railways to the state.

The CPI (M) also decried the railway ministry’s move to reduce budget for the East Coast Railway.