For the metro railway network, the Centre has not yet received any proposal from the Odisha Government as informed by the Union Urban and Housing Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in the Rajya Sabha.
BJP MP from Odisha Ashwini Vaishnaw queried Hardeep Singh Puri regarding the proposal for the metro railway network but he responded that the center has not received any proposal on this matter. The BJP MP sought to know whether the Centre had plans for a metro rail project in Odisha.
He also informed that the Upper House that State Governments are accountable for inducting, developing, and funding urban transport infrastructure including metro rail projects as urban transport is a State subject.
As per the officials’ reports, Singh stated in Rajya Sabha regarding the establishment of a railway network that the Centre provides financial supports to the cities or urban agglomerates for the metro rail network. These are done based on extant policy, the feasibility of the proposal, and availability of resources, as and when posed by concerned State Governments.
According to the report, the Odisha government signed an agreement with Secunderabad-based Balaji Railroad System Limited (BRS) in 2014. This agreement was done to draw up a comprehensive project report (DPR) for a metro rail service between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Later the company was to prepare the DPR of the mass rapid transit system (MRTS) covering the 30-km distance between the two cities.
The State government had put forward the initiation of the metro rail in the twin city-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack.
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