Kalahandi bandh has been called by the District Congress today in protest against the decision of shifting of the proposed wagon repair factory from Narla, Kalahandi to Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh.
People are demanding for railway wagon factory in the district. Earlier the Ministry of Railway had announced a Wagon Factory in Kalahandi in 2010-11 railway budgets. But this Wagon factory was shifted to Ganjam district of Odisha. Again in 2013-14 rail budget a Wagon Maintenance Workshop in Kala handi was announced. But it was shifted to Visakhapatnam citing feasibility study.
The intelligentsia stating that it should not be announced in the parliament in a given location without any feasibility study. And how could ministry of railway announce Wagon Maintenance Workshop in Kalahandi in 2013-14 railway budgets, especially in the parliament, without conducting proper feasibility study? Since such an announcement was especially made after keeping strong public reaction in mind, railway should have taken utmost care about the feasibility and other technical study before announcing any new project here, so that incident like shifting of earlier Wagon Factory in 2010-11 railway budget is not repeated. Now Kalahandi should not be penalized for the mistake made by railway ministry. Along with agriculture, industrial and manufacturing sector development in the region is crucial for overall growth of this part of the nation.