Bhawanipatna: To protest the shifting of the proposed railway wagon repair factory from Narla to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Kalahandi District Congress on Monday gave a call for a 12-hour Kalahandi bandh on April 6.
Talking to media persons here, former Union minister and AICC secretary Bhakta Charan Das said though the Railways had conducted a series of surveys in 2014 and decided to lay the foundation stone of the railway wagon repair/maintenance factory at Chapatkhanda of Narla, it could not be done due to the restrictions imposed by the Election Commissioner for the general elections.
Maintaining that the proposed rail wagon factory would have created employment for the local youths, Das blamed the state government and the Centre for not paying adequate attention towards the project.
“There must be a conspiracy behind the decision to shift the proposed project to Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh on the pretext of lack of land and water,” he surmised.
The Congress leader said there was no water problem for the proposed project as the Sandol river is only one km away from the proposed site. The local villagers had also given an undertaking with affidavit to the Railways to offer their land for the purpose and hence there was no problem for the land either, he said.
Alleging gross apathy on the part of the state government, the ruling BJD MPs and lack of political will of the BJP led NDA government for the development of a backward region like Kalahandi, Das appealed to the people to observe the bandh peacefully and sought the cooperation of all organizations and trade unions.