Bhubaneswar, Feb 10: Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Manoj Sinha, Union Minister of State of Telecom (Independent Charge) and Minister of State of Railways flagged off the inaugural run of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express via Sambalpur City-Jharsuguda-Rourkela through video conference from Railway Board in New Delhi on Saturday.
Addressing the gathering at Bhubaneswar station Minister Pradhan appreciated the highest ever fund allocation in the budget for the infrastructural development of Railways and improvement of passenger amenities in Odisha.
The running of this train via Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda has fulfilled the long standing demand of the people of Western Odisha, added Shri Pradhan.
Shri Sinha in his address said that Rajdhani Express is the most prestigious train and running of this train via Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda and Rourkela will greatly benefit a large number of people.
He assured the people of Odisha that there will be no fund constraint for development of Railways in the state and said that Odisha is getting its substantial share in Budget. He also sought the co-operation of the Odisha Government on the issue of land acquisition so that all the pending projects are speeded up.
Ashok Chandra Panda, Odisha’s Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge), Nrushingha Charan Sahu, Minister of State for Commerce and Transport (Independent Charge), Dr. (Prof.) Prasanna Kumar Patasani, MP, Nagendra Kumar Pradhan, MP, Bijaya Kumar Mohanty, MLA and Priyadarshi Mishra, MLA addressed a gathering in a function organised at Bhubaneswar Railway station here.
The weekly 20817/20818 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express via Angul and Sambalpur City will have stoppages at Angul, Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Chakradharpur, Anara, NSCB Gomoh, Koderma, Gaya, Dindayal Upadhyaya (Mughalsarai) and Kanpur Central stations between Bhubaneswar and New Delhi from both the directions.
Rajeev Sharma, AGM, East Coast Railway welcomed the dignitaries while, SP Dwivedi, ADRM, East Coat Railway, Khurda Road Division delivered vote of thanks. All the senior railway officers from Khurda Road Division and Headquarter were also present on the occasion.
