Good news for KBK but Kandhamal was still ignored by Orissa State Road Project

The New Indian Express on May 1, 2007, PDF, quoted that state government along with World Bank have cleared Orissa State Road Project (OSRP) to be implemented in three phases.

“The roads proposed under Phase-I is 835 kilometers of state highways. The roads included in phase-1 are, Berhampur-Digapahandi-JK Pur-Rayagada (201 kilometers), Kereda-Rayagada-JK Pur-Bhawanipatna-Khariar (213 kilometers), Jagatpur-Kendrapara-Chandbali-Bhadrak (152 kilometers), Bhadrak-Anandpur-Karanjia-Jashipur (142 kilometers), Daspalla-Narsinghpur-Hindol-Banarpal (89 kilometers) and Aska-Bhanjanagar (38 kilometers).

Official sources said that at a later stage the 39 kilometre long Dhamra port to Digochhia Chhak road connecting Bhadrak-Chandbali corridor and the 199 kilometer long Mohana-Chandiput-R Udaygiri-Paralakemundi-Gunupur and Bangi junction were added to the project.”

Comment:
These are few good initiatives by the state government to develop road connectivity in KBK region; however, the state government totally ignored one of the backward Kandhamal district and few parts of Kalahandi - Nuapada – Padampur route.

If we assume state government is expecting to implement the proposed Balangir – Khordha national highway in the following route;

Balangir (Balangir district) – Sonepur (Subarnapur district) – Boudh (Boudh district) - Purunakatak (Boudh district) - Dashapalla (Nayagarh Dist) – Nayagarh (Nayagarh Dist) – Khordha (Khordha district)

Then it is fine, other wise Balangir – Sonepur state highway should be included in the above list;

If it also plans to include the following route in the proposed Vijayawada – Ranchi national highway; (Tathya, 5 Dec, 2006, PDF )

Motu (Malkangiri district) – Malkangiri (Malkangiri district) – Mattili (Malkangiri district) – Boipariguda (Koraput district) – Jeypore (Koraput district) – Koraput (Koraput district) – Lakshmipur (Koraput district) - Rayagada (Rayagada district)

Then its fine, otherwise Malkangiri - Koraput – Rayagada route could also be included in the above list.

Of course NH 201 linking Boriguma - Nabarangpur – Bhawanipatna – Balangir – Bargarh would be a great boost to the region, but it needs more central grant for implementation.

Similar to Gajpati and Ganjam districts, Kandhamal district should have given importance in the first phase of road developments, we expected more importance could have given to the following routes:

Purunakatak (Boudh district, meeting point of Balangir-Khorda NH) –Phulbani (Kandhamal district) – Sadingia (Kandhamal district) – Baligurha (Kandhamal district) – Lankagarh (Kandhamal district) – Rampur (Kalahandi district)-Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi district, meeting point of proposed NH 201)


Similarly, the following route also needed attention by the state government in the fist phase,

Sohela (Bargarh district, a meeting point to NH6 towards Bargarh) – Padampur (Bargarg district) - Nuapada (Nuapada district) – Khariar (Nuapada district) – Sinapali (Nuapada district) – Golamunda (Kalahandi district) – Dharamgarh (Kalahandi district) – Moter (Kalahandi district, a meeting point to NH 201)

Hopefully, the sate government would consider the above routes in very near future.

[An Open Letter to the CM of Orissa, PDF]