Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik (File Photo | AP)
BHUBANESWAR: With an eye on 2019 elections, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to visit Surat in Gujarat soon. The city is also known as Little Odisha for its sizeable Odia population. More than seven lakh migrant Odias, mainly from Naveen’s home district Ganjam, reside in the city and work in different sectors. Though the date is yet to be finalised, the Chief Minister’s visit is almost a certainty with the groundwork already done.
A delegation of Odia community of Surat had recently met the CM at Naveen Nivas and extended an invitation to visit the city. While the visit is viewed as a move to woo Odias for the 2019 elections, the CM’s recent actions have only strengthened the contention. On Tuesday, he demanded the Centre to introduce two daily trains between Berhampur and Surat. This comes within days of his letter to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu seeking direct flight between Bhubaneswar and Surat.
“At present, there is not a single train service directly connecting (originating/terminating) Berhampur and Surat though more than seven lakh people of South Odisha specially from Ganjam district are residing there,” the Chief Minister said in a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. Pre s e n t ly, the Puri- Ahmedabad Express (running four days a week), the Puri- Okha Express (once a week) and the Puri-Gandhidham (once a week) connect the two cities. “But availability of seats is always an issue as these group of trains have different origins and destinations,” he said.
Direct connectivity between Surat and Berhampur is a long standing and genuine demand of Odia people residing in the city, the Chief Minister said and added that a very large population of Odia workers are engaged in powerloom, dyeing and printing, diamond cutting and other spheres of trades and commerce in the Surat economic cluster. “I would therefore request you to look into the genuine demand of people of South Odisha working in Surat and introduce two new daily trains between Berhampur and Surat which will greatly serve the travelling needs of seven lakh people from Odisha,” he said. The large Odia community in the city may turn out to be crucial in the elections in Odisha next year.
According to sources, a substantial chunk of the population has not registered as voters in Surat and comes to the native places in Odisha to cast the vote. The BJD has thus started a conscious effort to tap them. In July, State Finance Minister Sashibhusan Behera had visited Surat as part of the party’s outreach to the community. But it did not yield much results as the Minister faced protests from different Odia organisations who alleged that the Odisha Government was protecting the culprits in the chit fund scam.
