Mamata was not so kind' to Mayurbhanj

BARIPADA: Tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj feels dejected by Mamata Banerjee's railway budget. There is no mention of the long-standing demand for connecting Bangiriposi on the foothills of Simlipal with Gorumahisani, rued Abhijeet Ram, general secretary of Mayurbhanj Rail Travellers' Association on Saturday.
Rail connectivity between Badampahar with Keonjhar could have given the much-needed boost to tourism, Ram added.Badampahar-Keonjhar rail link could bolster industrial development as well in this otherwise mineral-rich district of Mayurbhanj, he pointed out.
Demand for the Baripada-Bhubaneswar Superfast Express to start its journey from Bangiriposi, and further extending it upto Puri to provide direct connectivity with Jagannath's abode, has not been heard. Instead, the budget has made an attempt to take rail commuters in this district for a ride by announcing a DEMU (Diesel Engine Multiple Unit) train between Baripada and Bangiriposi. The Baripada-Bangiriposi stretch of the nearly 90-km Rupsa-Bangiriposi "Gauge Conversion Project" has long since been completed, but trains are yet to run between Baripada and Bangiriposi, sources said.
The 106-year-old Baripada railway station that carried an aura of majesty of British Raj and inaugurated by then Lieutenant Governor of Bengal Sir Andrew Fraser in 1905 deserves to be upgraded and development into a "model station", the Mayurbhanj Rail Travellers' Association(MRTA) asserted. With at least five trains including the Baripada-Shalimar-Baripada Inter-city express trains terminating in and starting from this station, a second platform is imminently necessary, the MRTA observed.
To protect the commuters from the scorch of the summer sun or from being lashed by rains, the century-old tin shed should be quickly replaced, the MRTA added.
Thanks to the railway administration, one steam engine that ran along the Rupsa-Bangiriposi narrow gauge section has been preserved and put on display on the Baripada railway
station portico to remind visitors of the George Stevension era, the MRTA said.
There is much to be done for this station: Provision of a wall, a good waiting room for passengers and cold drinking water and adequate lighting arrangements in the platform and a cycle stand and so on.