‘Railways had a big role to play in separate province movement’

BHUBANESWAR: Two erstwhile railway companies, Paralakimedi Light Railway (PLR) of Paralakhemundi king and Mayurbhanj State Light Railway (MLR) of Mayurbhanj king, immensely helped the leaders of the the separate province movement to move and hold meetings on border areas to make Odisha a separate state on April 1, 1936.
Dilip Kumar Samantray, a former railway officer and author of a book on Odisha’s railway sector, said road communication was not good in Odisha 100 years ago. People could not travel to far-off places due to bad roads and lack of communication. During that time, railway communication had given a new lease of life to people’s movement, goods transportation and other work, he added.
He said the railways had brought tracks to Naupada in 1884. The then Maharaja of Paralakimedi (now Paralakhemundi) had decided to connect his capital Paralakhemundi with Naupada with a light railway. The 39km line was opened on April 1, 1900. Later, the Naupada-Paralakhemundi line was extended to Gunupur in 1931.
“The PLR and railway communication had played a vital role in the separate province movement of Odisha. Due to PLR, the leaders of the separate Odia province could move deep inside areas of Parlakhemundi and Jeypore and make the people aware about their movement,” he added.
Similarly, MLR had opened its first line on January 20, 1905, connecting Mayurbhanj’s Baripada with Rupsa. “Both the kings were visionary. This rail line had also helped the leaders of the separate province movement,” said Samantray.
Bishnu Mohan Adhikari, a researcher from Paralakhemundi, said the impressive congregation of leaders of separate province movement could not have been possible without the rail link to Paralakhemundi. Around 2,000 delegates had attended it.