Kosal Discussion and Development Forum

Following is a TOI report:

BHUBANESWAR: The provision of setting up a railway maintenance workshop at Narla in Kalahandi in the Railway Budget evoked mixed reactions here. While some sections of people said a wagon factory would have generated more employment, others expressed satisfaction at the railway ministry’s decision.

The Kalahandi Swabhiman Jagaran Sangha, an outfit which has been pressing for a wagon factory, felt disappointed at the decision to set up a maintenance workshop instead. President of the outfit Badri Narayan Patnaik said they would again press for a wagon factory. “We will again move the railway ministry through Kalahandi MP Bhakta Das to demand a wagon factory,” he said.

In 2010, then Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee proposed a wagon factory to be set up in Odisha. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had recommended Ganjam for the factory. The railway ministry subsequently decided to set up the wagon factory at Ganjam.

“Kalahandi, which is considerably more backward than Ganjam, deserves a wagon factory,” said Patnaik. Earlier, the Narla Rail Wagon Nirman Sangram Samiti in Kalahandi had also demanded a wagon factory to be set up at Narla.

“We are happy that Kalahandi found a mention in the budget but we would have been doubly happy had the wagon factory been set up here,” said Congress state coordinator of schedule caste cell Debi Prasad Sindoor. He, however, attacked Naveen for delaying the land identification process, which is why, according to him, the wagon factory went to Ganjam. Narla has enough land for a wagon factory, he said. Kalahandi MP Bhakta Das had also accused Naveen of showing apathy towards identifying the land at Narla.