BHUBANESWAR: Almost two years after signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indian Railways and the state government for redevelopment of Bhubaneswar railway station, there is almost no progress in the project. Even the tender has not been floated.
In December 2016, the government had given approval to Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for implementation of the railway station multimodal hub project in the city. For this, passenger reservation system (PRS) and booking counters were shifted to a temporary building near RMS office in November 2016.
The earlier design was put on hold and the project’s executive agency, the works department, was changed. In September 2017, the government and East Coast Railway (ECoR) discussed the project. BDA was authorised to prepare the design with the help of a reputed agency. After much delay and change of dates, the MoU between the railways and the state government was signed on September 19, 2019 in New Delhi.
“Deadline for this multimodal hub was 30 months. Even after 22 months, no appreciable progress has been made in this direction. BDA had given a drawing of the project last year. We had approved it and sent it to the urban body. ECoR had given a letter to the state government in April this year to speed up the project, but nothing has been done in this regard,” said a senior railway officer.
Housing and urban development department secretary G Mathi Vathanan said the tender is yet to be floated. “The project is in the design and development stage. The BDA is working on it. After a delay in signing of the MoU, Covid-19 delayed it further. Now we are engaged in Covid management. Government will take a call on this,” Vathanan said.
