Odisha has won a bonanza as Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has managed to secure the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for six big railway projects for the state.

These six projects would come up at a cost of ₹15,004 crore. The projects are likely to be completed by 2030-31.

Ashwini Vaishnaw was elected consecutively for the second time to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha, backed by the Biju Janata Dal. There has been mounting pressure on Vaishnaw to allocate more projects for Odisha. Following CCEA’s approval on Friday, Vaishnaw on Saturday briefed the four MPs from Odisha — Naba Charan Majhi (Mayurbhanj), Balabhadra Majhi (Nabarangpur), Ananta Nayak (Keonjhar) and Malabika Deo ( Kalahandi) about the projects and later briefed the media about the upcoming projects in Odisha.

Vaishnaw said: “All the new projects and ongoing projects in the state will be expedited in view of the double engine government both in the state and in the Centre. Projects worth ₹1 lakh crore has been planned for railway infrastructure in Odisha. Till now, projects worth ₹70,000 crore have already been sanctioned for Odisha.”

The new CCEA-approved projects include the 73.62 km-long Gunupur-Therubali new line (at the cost of ₹1226 crore), the 116.21km-long Junagarh-Nabarangpur new line (₹3274 crore), the 173.61km-long Malkangiri-Pandurangpuram via Bhadrachalam (₹4109 crore), the 85.60km-long Bangiriposhi-Gorumohisani (₹2549 crore), the 82km-long Badampahar-Kendujhargarh new line (₹2107 crore) and Barumara-
Chakulia project (₹1639 crore).

Vaishnaw stressed on the fact that Mayurbhanj and Kendujhargarh, from where President Droupadi Murmu and Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi hails respectively, will get the benefits of the expansion of railway projects.