Oram meets Union minister Vaishnaw over rail projects

ROURKELA:  BJP MP from Sundargarh Jual Oram on Wednesday met Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw with the request to expedite ongoing railway projects in the tribal-dominated district and other parts of Odisha. 

Oram also handed over a memorandum to Union Steel Minister Ramchandra Prasad Singh urging him to address the issues gripping the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) and its healthcare system. 

Oram, a former Union Minister, impressed upon Vaishnaw to expedite the Talcher-Bimlagarh new rail line project. Besides, work should start from Bimlagarh side in Bonai sub-division of Sundargarh district for early completion of the project, he said.

In the memorandum to Singh, Oram said around 25 per cent posts of doctors and paramedics are vacant at the RSP-run Ispat General Hospital and insisted on filling them soon. The Ispat PG Institute and Super Specialty Hospital of RSP is not operating properly and urgent action should be taken on addressing management issues.

He urged the Steel Minister to fully functionalise the new hot strip mill of RSP whose commissioning was announced in January last year.  The former Union Minister also demanded immediate wage settlement of public sector steel workers and pay revision of executives besides addressing issues of diploma engineers and displaced persons of RSP.