Connecting Odisha: C &T Dept Committed to Provide Stage Carriage Connectivity to All GPs, Rail Connectivity to All Dists

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has envisioned a “New Odisha –Empowered Odisha”. For this the Commerce &Tranport Department has been given a mandate to provide stage carriage connectivity to all gram Panchayats, rail connectivity to all districts and create citizen friendly band IT enabled services for ease of living and transparency.

The C&T Department has also given a mandate to create port led development of the coastal corridor of Odisha and make it one of the strongest maritime state in country, and use of comprehensive strategy and enforcement as well as multi Dept. and sector approach to reduce road accidents and fatalities.

At the ongoing Senior Officers’ Conference, C&T Department’s Principal Secretary, Usha Padhee presented an ambitious plan for holistic development of various sectors i.e., roads, railways, inland waterways and civil aviation in the state.

The objective of the Department under the theme of ‘Connecting Odisha’ is to provide sustainable, economic, multimodal and safe transportation options for passengers and commodities across the state to create a “New Odisha – Empowered Odisha”.

The budget of C&T Department for FY 2021-22 was about ₹870 Cr. which has increased by 61% and reached ₹1,432 Cr. for FY 2022-23. The increased allocations are for development and augmentation of resilient infrastructure targeting smooth, safe & seamless transportation of public and goods. Collector-Sundargarh, Gavali P Harshad, Collector-Bhadrak, Siddeswar Baliram Bondar & Collector Nuapada, Hema Kanta Say presented the thematic perspective of their respective districts.

The State Government through the C&T Department, have undertaken several initiatives for transport infrastructure augmentation, safe & seamless transportation of passengers and commodities, IT enabled services for uniform user experience.

All such initiatives have been consolidated under 5T framework. The initiatives include:

i. Biju Gaon Gadi Yojana (BGGY): Rural stage carriage connectivity to aid the rural people in availing education, healthcare & livelihood opportunities
ii. Railways: Cost sharing with Ministry of Railways for construction of rail lines and provision of land for free on select projects
iii. RCS-UDAN: Prioritising airstrips for replenishing and licensing under the scheme. VAT on ATF is charged @1% across the state to make the air transport affordable for public
iv. IWT: RO-PAX Jetties and new ports to come up for cheaper transportation of passengers & goods
v. Automated Driving Test System (ADTS): To license only the eligible applicants to drive vehicles and reduce road accidents / fatalities by bringing down manual checking and human interference, ADTS is being implemented across 19 locations in Odisha.
vi. Automated Testing System (ATS): Parameterised automated vehicle fitness inspection & certification at 1 location; more centres in the offing.
vii. Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR): 1 functional at Chhatia-Jajpur and 3 more at Berhampur, Keonjhar and Bonai shall be commissioned shortly.
viii. Capacity Building & Road Safety Training for Road Engineers: Engineers from Works Dept. & NHAI are being trained under the aegis of Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Pune.
ix. Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS): Backend integrated with e-Challan
system; this generates challans against MV rule violators. Currently implemented in
Sundargarh, Berhampur and Bhubaneswar.