Bhubaneswar, May 23: The Centre and the state government have entered into a blame game for the delay in execution of railway projects in the state.

While the railway ministry has accused the state government of "lacking in sincerity" in land acquisition, the state government has blamed the railways and its executing agencies for the delay.

Minister of state for railways Rajen Gohain told reporters on Sunday: "The Centre is not responsible for the slow pace of railway projects in Odisha. The state government should show sincerity in acquiring land expeditiously. It's the responsibility of the state government to acquire the required land for the projects on time. If it delays the process, the projects cannot take off quickly."

The minister was speaking on the sidelines of a programme of the East Coast Railway Engineering Association here.

Reacting to the statement, the state's commerce and transport minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu said: "I don't know under what circumstances the central minister made such a statement against the state government. The allegation is totally baseless. There is no question of showing any negligence or insincerity."

"The progress of ongoing railway projects is being regularly reviewed by the PMO and also by the state government," said Sahu.

He said the state's chief secretary had reviewed the status of the projects on April 27 at a meeting with the railway officials.

"The state government has never made any delay in land acquisition for railway projects. Rather, it has joined hands with the railways to expedite the projects by sharing project cost and providing land free of cost in some cases," Sahu said.

The projects had been delayed due to two reasons - delay in submission of requisition for land acquisition and neglect in release of fund - said the transport minister. Citing an instance of delay in submission of requisition, Sahu said the railways had filed requisition for the Talcher-Bimlagarh railway line only in 2016 even though the project was sanctioned in 2009-10.

Similarly, requisition for land acquisition for Jeypore-Malkangiri and Jeypore-Nabarangpur railway line projects had not been submitted yet even though the state government has offered to provide free land and share project costs for the two projects to ensure their completion within five to six years, he said.

The second reason for the delay was the slow pace in spending funds allocated in railway budgets and the slow execution by Rail Vikash Nigam Limited, the minister pointed out.