Bhubaneswar, Feb. 5: The Odisha Assembly’s House Committee on Railways, headed by the Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat, today demanded an allocation of Rs 3,050 crore in the coming rail budget.

“We met railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal today and urged him to make an adequate allocation in the 2013-14 rail budget for speedy completion of long-pending rail projects in the state,” said Amat.

Stating that the rail density in Odisha was 15.03km per 1,000sqkm compared to the national average of 19km per 1,000sqkm, the panel suggested that allotment of funds should be based on criteria such as existing rail density, revenue contribution, special requirement for potential industries and socio-economic backwardness.

The panel said Odisha contributed more than Rs 14,000 crore per annum to the Indian Railways (14 per cent of the total revenue of Rs 1 lakh crore). “However, in the last financial year, out of the total per capita budgetary outlay of around Rs 50,000 crore, allocation for Odisha was only Rs 724 crore, which was further reduced by Rs 280 crore,” it stated.

The curtailment of budgetary allocation thrice during the current year had triggered protest from the state government and the ruling BJD. The BJD leaders had staged protest rallies and even suggested to adopt a unanimous resolution in the Assembly, condemning the “step-motherly” attitude of the railways towards Odisha.

On January 8, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him for allocating a sizeable amount for Odisha in the coming rail budget. Urging for significant expansion of railway network in the backward regions, the state legislators today demanded a new railway line from Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh to Bimlagarh in Sundergarh district through tribal belts of Malkangiri, Jeypore, Junagarh and Lanjigarh.

The panel also suggested to extend the proposed Ludhina-Dankuni dedicated freight corridor up to Berhampur to serve the ports and upcoming industries of the state.

It also demanded expansion of jurisdiction of the East Coast Railway by merging Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Balasore area of South Eastern Railway and Ib area of South East Central Railway.

The railway ministry was also requested for sanction of a few other new railway lines such as Bargarh-Nuapada via Padampur, Talcher-Gopalpur, Puri-Konark, Berhampur-Phulbani-Khurda-Rajaathgrah bypassing Bhubaneswar and Rayagada-Gopalpur via Gunupur.

The panel also demanded introduction of 27 new trains, increase in frequency of 18 trains, extension of 17 trains and augmentation of coaches in 10 trains.

The other major demands included survey for new rail lines connecting Jharsuguda with Allahabad via Gumla in Jharkand and Sundergarh in Odisha.

It demanded another line connecting Paradip port with Dhamra port, a project connecting mineral-rich Keonjhar with Dhamra port via Jajpur, expediting establishment of wago factory at Sitapali in Ganjam district and setting up of world class stations at Bhubaneswar and Puri.