Narla wagon factory was never approved: MoS, Railways

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha on Sunday said no approval was given for the proposed wagon repair workshop at Narla in Odisha’s Kalahandi district.

“There have been a lot of talks relating to Narla wagon repair workshop. But the fact is the project did not get the approval. An anonymous fellow came here (Odisha) and announced that the workshop would be set up in Narla. As per rules, the project proposals approved by the Railway Board are mentioned in the Pink Book (in which the yearly plan for Railway’s growth is spelt out in great financial details). But there is no mention about the proposed Narla wagon repair workshop in the Pink Book,” Sinha said at the launch of free and fast Wi-Fi enabled service at the city railway station here.

He said with the launching of the free Wi-Fi enabled service at Bhubaneswar railway station, about one lakh passengers who come to the station daily, would be immensely benefited.

Reacting to the statement of Sinha, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das said how come the Railways has said there was no approval to the proposed wagon factory at Narla.

“It does not matter whether it is a UPA government or a NDA government. It was the commitment of the Railways which was reflected in the declaration of the Railway budget. As told by the minister of state for Railways, Manoj Sinha that there is no mention of the proposed Narla project in the Pink Book of the Railways, I say this is only a pretext of the BJP government which should not try to mislead the people with such ridiculous statements,” Das pointed out.

On the other hand, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said if the statement of Manoj Sinha is true, then this is yet another instance of Central apathy towards Odisha.