TV
For five years, I travelled to/ from on the Cuttack- Paradip highway with the Taladanda canal on one side. The road felt no different from a canal embankment road, and I always felt that a moment of unmindful driving would take the car into the canal, as there was no physical barrier between the road and the canal. The road was never in sync with an international gateway at Paradip. Some years after I left Paradip in 1991, the highway was upgraded at considerable cost, but its vulnerability to the canal remained.
The other access to/from Paradip was through the Daitari- Paradip Expressway that the visionary Biju Patnaik built, and export of iron ore was possible through the Port even without a rail link.
Paradip has now emerged as the largest bulk handling port of the country. A credible highway still hasn’t emerged.
I am of the view that Paradip should be directly connected to Bhubaneswar with an access-controlled 8 lane Highway that would transform a large region of Jagatsinghpur district with futuristic development infrastructure. A straight alignment would be most suitable. This Highway would avoid the congestion of Cuttack and provide convenient connectivity to/from the south.
The other issue is about rail connectivity to/from Paradip. The rail link from Cuttack remained the sole rail route for decades. Finally, the port got connected with Haridaspur, north of Cuttack, providing an easier access to the hinterland north and west of Cuttack.
The connectivity deficit, however, persists because access to/ from the south hasn’t been addressed. Traffic to/from the south continues through Cuttack.
A solution lies in a connection between Mancheswar on the Howrah-Chennai trunk line north of Bhubaneswar and Kandarpur on the Cuttack-Paradip railway line. This useful link must come quickly.
Air connection to Paradip would necessitate a greenfield airport. This shouldn’t be very close to the harbour as such a development would take away a huge chunk of land from port-related infrastructure. The airport should preferably be closer to Kendrapara.
Taladanda canal was developed as a navigational waterway and has been used as such for decades. Steadily, however, the canal’s use for navigation declined, and now it’s non-existent. Bridges over the canal were built without providing enough height for boats to pass with merchandise. These bridges need to be reconstructed to make navigation possible. This heritage waterway must be used again for navigation and even for recreational boating.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
