Bhubaneswar: CM Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday asserted that the long-awaited Khurda-Balangir railway line would be completed by early next year.“For 50 years, the dream of the people in western Odisha was the completion of the Khurda-Balangir railway line. Perhaps, by the end of this year or early next year, it would become fully operational,” the CM said, while speaking on the state budget discussion in the assembly.So far, 226 km of the 301-km new line has been commissioned, with trains now running from Khurda Road to Dasapalla and from Balangir to Purunakatak via Sonepur.Majhi said the budget also focuses on improving connectivity and transport infrastructure, and highlighted the announcement of two expressways apart from the Centre’s approval of nearly 400 km of new roads and national highway upgrades worth over Rs 15,000 crore. “This is the achievement of the double-engine govt,” he said.Responding to opposition protests over farmers’ issues, the CM accused rival parties of indulging in “baseless politics” since Feb 17. He said the govt prioritised the farm sector, allocating Rs 42,492 crore for agriculture and allied activities in 2026-27 — 12.3% higher than last year.To ensure timely payments, the govt proposed increasing the revolving fund of the food supplies department from Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.The CM added that plans are afoot to construct modern warehouses with a capacity of 11 lakh MT over the next three years.Targeting the opposition, Majhi said Congress and BJD have no moral grounds to question the govt’s handling of farmers’ issues. He claimed that paddy procurement under the previous govt in 2023-24 stood at 70.88 lakh MT, while the present govt procured 92.63 lakh MT in 2024-25, paying farmers Rs 28,715 crore, including Rs 7,408 crore as a bonus.“This year, we have already purchased 60.80 lakh MT and will procure all paddy brought by farmers,” he said.Majhi criticised past govts for low farm incomes, saying Odisha farmers earned only Rs 5,115 per month during the opposition’s tenure.He said the current administration, despite being in office for less than 24 months, increased each farming family’s income by over Rs 33,000 annually through higher subsidies under Samruddha Krushak and Rs 10,000 annual support to eligible women under the Subhadra scheme.Highlighting investment inflows, he said Odisha received investment intents worth over Rs 20 lakh crore from the last Utkarsh Odisha event to the Rourkela investors’ meet, of which Rs 2.5 lakh crore was already grounded, generating jobs for youth.He added that this year’s budget earmarks Rs 1,22,764 crore exclusively for women under gender budgeting — 31.5% of the total outlay, the highest ever.Responding to concerns on spending, the CM said programme expenditure till Jan stood at over Rs 1 lakh crore —Rs 14,000 crore higher than the same period last year and 16% more in percentage terms. “Allegations of under-utilisation are baseless,” he said.
