By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : The budget presented by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal for his ministry Tuesday is disappointing, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.
Patnaik said the state had requested the ministry to allocate Rs.3,050 crore for various projects “but only Rs.869 crore have been allocated in this budget”.
“This is grossly insufficient considering the requirement of the ongoing projects in the state,” he said.
“The central government has shown step-motherly treatment towards the state, which gives more than Rs.14,000 crore revenue per annum to the railways,” the chief minister said.
Patnaik, who is also the president of the state’s ruling Biju Janata Dal, said that Odisha had demanded 31 new trains against which only six were sanctioned.
“The proposal to include supplementary charges for superfast trains, increase in reservation fee, cancellation charge and Tatkal charge will indirectly hike passenger fare,” he said.