Bhubaneswar, Jan. 8: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure a sizeable allocation in the next rail budget, in spite of the railway ministry’s reduction of budgetary allocation for Odisha thrice during the current financial year.

Stating that the gross earnings of the railways from the state are expected to be over Rs 14,000 crore in 2012-13, Naveen wrote to Singh, seeking his attention to a package of proposals for Odisha.

He said investments to the tune of more than Rs 8.85 lakh crore in steel, aluminium and power sectors had been lined up in the state. The chief minister regretted that the Centre appeared to have completely “bypassed” Odisha while launching projects such as dedicated freight corridor aligned with mega-industrial hubs.

Stating that the state was making efforts to develop several ports, he suggested that the Ludhiana-Dankuni eastern freight corridor to be extended to Vishakhapatnam.

He also demanded that the railway projects passing through the backward and the Maoist-affected regions such as Bhadrachalam Road-Talcher rail link, Sambalpur-Berhampur new rail line and Rayagada-Gopalpur be treated as “national projects” and executed on a priority basis.

Naveen also wanted the railways to expedite execution of the proposed worldclass stations in Bhubaneswar and Puri.

Referring to the Comprehensive Development Plan, prepared by Kharagpur IIT for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, which projected the combined population of the twin cities to reach 2.7 million by 2021, the chief minister said: “This would be appropriate time to commence detailed planning for rail-based urban transport system in the Greater Bhubaneswar region.”

An allocation of Rs 723 crore was made in 2012-13 railway budget as against the Odisha’s demand for Rs 2,345 crore. Later, in three phases, the railway ministry slashed Rs 280 crore, triggering protests from the state government and the BJD.