Achyuta Samanta Makes Phulbani Connectivity Plea To Railway Minister

After BJP’s sweeping victory in the general elections, all eyes have now turned towards the monsoon session of the parliament, which is currently underway. At the 17th Lok Sabha, newly elected Speaker Om Birla is conducting the proceedings.

There have already been some bold opinions that have made headlines such as West Bengal MP Mahua Moitra’s maiden speech, taking a jibe at the NDA government. On the other hand, some crucial issues such as climate change, water crisis, and encephalitis among others have been taken up.

Meanwhile, in his maiden speech at the Zero Hour today, Kandhamal MP Achyuta Samanta raised a very important issue concerning his constituency – rail connectivity.

“The population of Kandhamal is dominated by Adivasi’s, with roughly 80% of them belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. About 39 years ago, the then Prime Minister had promised to connect Phulbani, the administrative headquarters of Kandhamal district, by rail. Since then, various surveys have been conducted, but there has been no progress made. I request the Railway Minister to kindly take this issue up as it will benefit the constituency in many aspects,” said Samanta.

Whether or not Samanta’s appeal is seriously taken into consideration by the minister remains to be seen. But with the BJP increasingly trying to make inroads in East and South India, the pressure is on the ruling party to take steps that benefit these regions.