SCR takes up new project connecting tribal habitations in A.P., Odisha and Telangana
The 290-km project, estimated to cost ₹7,383 crore, will connect LWE districts and contribute to socioeconomic development of the Agency area, says Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
The South Central Railway (SCR) has taken up a new project connecting the tribal habitations in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana States.
The new railway line will be an additional corridor to coastal areas of the existing Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar-Kolkata main line.
The proposed project between Junagarh-Nabarangpur, Jeypore-Malkangiri-Bhadrachalam-Pandurangapuram, being laid in 290 km, will connect the tribal and aspirational districts of Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Koraput, once affected by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE).
“The Pandurangapuram-Bhadrachalam-Malkangiri railway line project was one of the projects cleared by the Cabinet recently. The new line will reduce the distance from southern Odisha and Bastar to South India, and will act as an alternative route bypassing busy corridors like Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam,” said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who announced the Cabinet decisions on August 10 (Saturday).
The Minister said the new railway project, which would act as an alternative route between Asansol and Warangal, would benefit Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The project would improve connectivity to thermal power plants, iron ore and aluminium industries in Southern India, and would result in faster connectivity to power plants in Central and South India from Mahanadi Coalfields area. Besides, the proposed railway line would provide a wider market to agricultural products in A.P. and Telangana States, Mr. Vaishnaw said.
“The Pandurangapuram-Bhadrachalam-Malkangiri project, being taken up on priority basis, would lead to socioeconomic development of Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, East Godavari, Bhadradri-Kothagudem and other districts in Odisha, A.P. and Telangana. The project would cover 85 km in A.P., 19.5 km in Telangana and the remaining will be in Odisha,” the Minister explained.
Transportation of fertilizers, agricultural products, food grains and cement would become easy to the tribal villages, once the new railway line was completed. The new line would provide alternate connectivity to the Agency districts in Odisha during cyclones, even if the rail routes get affected in Howrah-Vijayawada coastal route, the Railway Minister said.
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