Delegation of Odisha Assembly Committee to meet Railway Minister Piyush Goyal

A delegation of the Odisha Assembly Committee will meet Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Tuesday to seek more allocation for the development of the railway infrastructure in the state.

However, the BJP will not be part of the delegation as party's chief whip Mohan Majhi walked out of the committee meeting presided by Speaker S N Patro alleging insult by a senior officer.

The members from the ruling BJD and the opposition Congress will, however, be part of the delegation to meet the Railway Minister.

"A delegation of the Assembly Committee will meet Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at Rail Bhavan in New Delhi at 7 pm," said Patro, adding that the delegation will demand more allocation for the state.

The assembly committee meeting also expressed concern over reduced allocation for railway development in the state in the 2020-2021 budget. While the state got an allocation of Rs 5,993 crore in 2019-20 budget, it came down to Rs 4,373 crore in 2020-21 budget.

Earlier, the ruling BJD had termed the reduced allocation as "cause of concern." The Congress blamed both the BJD and BJP for reduced allocation in the railway sector.

The BJP chief whip said he walked out of the meeting as he felt insulted. "When I asked about the state government's failure in land acquisition for railway projects, a senior officer present at the meeting said that he is answerable to the Speaker only. Therefore, I walked out of the meeting as I felt insulted," Majhi told reporters.

Majhi said he would not be part of the delegation to be led by the Speaker to Delhi. "I will not visit New Delhi tomorrow as the House Committee did not pay attention to my questions," the BJP leader said.