Rajya Sabha: Amar Patnaik Demands Redevelopment of Two Rly Stations of Odisha

New Delhi: Biju Janata Dal Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha Dr Amar Patnaik today raised the issue of redevelopment of railway stations to international standards.

He demanded that at least two stations from Odisha should be included in the list of stations that are to be redeveloped.

The railways has proposed to redevelop more than 40 railway stations into international standards on a BOT or the BOOT model to augment revenue and commercially viable. While the member welcomed the idea of the railways to redevelop the stations, he said not a single station from Odisha is included in the list of 41 stations which have been short listed for EOI is from Odisha.

He urged upon the government to include at least two stations from Odisha for redevelopment one each from the east and the western part.

He said Bhubaneswar and Puri have a large passenger footfall for which they can be considered for inclusion in the scheme. He said a world class railway station in western Odisha will work as a mini growth engine for the area.

The revenue model can be integrated to a national highway project so that private parties will be more interested for redevelopment of a station.