ROURKELA:  After a hiatus of over two months, five intra-State special passenger trains are scheduled to run in Odisha from June 8 but residents of Rourkela and adjacent Jharsuguda district are not happy as the region has been left out.Three of the five special passenger trains announced by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Tuesday would run via Sambalpur. But the next two major junctions at Jharsuguda and Rourkela have been left out either due to technical or jurisdiction issues. South Eastern Railway’s jurisdiction starts from Jharsuguda. 

Though the exact reason is yet to be ascertained, the move is bound to put people of the two industrial and mining districts to a lot of difficulties. Soon after the ECoR announcement in this regard, retired senior executive of Rourkela Steel Plant Narayan Pati drew attention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on the need to connect the important industrial hub of Rourkela.  

Secretary of UDBHAV, a forum for integrated development and mass awareness, VP Tiwari said the Rourkela-Koraput and Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Inter-City Express as well as Rourkela-Gunupur Rajyarani Express originate at Rourkela. The ECoR in consultation with SER should either start any of the originating trains or extend one of the five special trains till Rourkela for the benefit of the vast population of the two districts.  

Sundargarh Lok Sabha Member and Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Jual Oram said he would take up the matter with the Railway Ministry to help restore train connectivity till Rourkela. Meanwhile, services of two Up and as many Down trains on Howrah-Mumbai main line have resumed via Jharsuguda and Rourkela. These trains - Howrah to Ahmedabad and Howrah to Mumbai - do not touch any other station in Odisha.