Former Minister and Congress leader Ganeswar Behera shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to come to Odisha on March 5, urging him to take steps for  running of passenger trains on the Haridaspur-Paradip railway line.   Behera said that four years have been completed but the demand of Kendrapada people has not been fulfilled. He lamented that Kendrapada district has been neglected since Independence in the field of railway connectivity.   Though goods trains have been running since 23.09.2020  on the route after completion of Haridaspur-Paradeep Railway Project, the residents are yet to avail benefits of passenger rail service, Behera said.   Regularly, more than 25 rakes of goods trains are running on the line, which provides crores of rupees as revenue to the Goverment of India. Trial runs for running of passenger train have been completed. HRPCL has already accorded NoC for introduction of passenger train by the East Coast Railway. Additionally, the line has already been certified  by the Commissioner of Railway Safety,(CRS),Eastern Region,Kolkata for running of passenger train. Even, the construction of all nine stations has been completed and commissioned since long, he said, adding that despite all the progress, it is not understood why passenger trains are not running on the route. "The Kendrapara Town and Block Congress Commiittees have protested and submitted memoranda to the GM, EcoR, Bhubaneswar several times. On  2.1.2023, the Congress activists staged demonstration in front of the EcoR headquarters, Bhubaneswar but of no avail. Now it is high time to fulfill the long aspiration of the region," Behera said.

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