Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly on Wednesday witnessed a fierce debate between the ruling BJP and the opposition BJD over the potential separation of the Waltair Division from the East Coast Railway (ECoR).
During the Zero Hour, senior BJD leader Ranendra Pratap Swain raised concerns in the House, alleging a conspiracy to merge the Waltair Division with the new South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone.
Swain claimed that such a move would result in a loss of approximately ₹20,000 crore for Odisha and declared that his party would not tolerate any actions detrimental to the state’s interests.
BJD leader Goutam Buddha Das further alleged that the decision to shift the Waltair Division to the SCoR zone was taken to appease Andhra Pradesh, accusing the Central government of neglecting Odisha.
He highlighted that several districts of Odisha—Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, and Balasore—currently fall under the Chakradharpur and Kharagpur divisions of the South Eastern Railway (SER) zone. Das demanded that these areas be merged with the ECoR if the Waltair Division is moved.
Responding to these allegations, Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo assured the Assembly that no railway lines within Odisha would be shifted to any other state.
Singh Deo emphasized that MPs from Odisha had recently met Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who clarified that ECoR would retain its three divisions, including the newly sanctioned Rayagada division.
Speaking to the media, Singh Deo stated that the Central government has allocated over ₹73,000 crore for railway development in Odisha, with ₹107 crore sanctioned for the Rayagada division.
He further clarified that the revenue-generating Kothavalasa–Kirandul rail line, which includes regions from Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, would be moved to the Rayagada division to ensure no revenue loss for ECoR.
