RRDAC urges Railway Board for Rourkela division

Rourkela: During his visit to Rourkela to inspect the progress of various projects a delegation of Rourkela Railway Division Action Committee (RRDAC) under the leadership of its convener Suman Dutta met V K Tripathy, chairman, Railway Board, seeking a special rail division at Rourkela.

In support of the demand, the delegation mentioned that Chakradharpur division of the South Eastern Railway has emerged as the highest revenue generating division in the country, a number of times.

The sole reason for this is notable achievement is the region comprises mineral-rich Sundargarh, Kendujhargarh and Jharsuguda districts from where iron ore and other minerals are transported throughout the country.

Besides, the region houses a number of heavy industries, including SAIL-owned Rourkela Steel Plant, OCL-Rajgangpur; Tata Refractories, Adhunik Metalliks- Rourkela; L&T- Kansbahal, GOCL, Rourkela, which contribute a huge revenue to the railways for transportation of raw materials as well as finished products. Odisha has 2,495 km of railway route, of which 337 km- the highest in the State, passes through Sundargarh district.

Odisha has 411 km of railway route out of the total 742 km of railway route of CKP division. Only Sundargarh district generates about Rs 7,000 crore annually, which accounts for 40 percent of the total revenue generated by Chakradharpur division. But only a small amount is spent in the district. Similarly, Jharsuguda is an emerging industrial hub with a number of operating mega projects, while a number of industries are in the offing. Kendujhargarh is popular for its numerous mines.