Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu to consider the recommendation of a Joint Working Group to set up an Electric Locomotive Periodic Overhaul workshop in Kalahandi district of Odisha.
The recommended workshop would need about 250 acres of land and his government is ready to provide the same free of cost for the greater benefit of the State, Mr. Patnaik said in a letter to Mr. Prabhu on Thursday.
The joint working group comprising Odisha Chief Secretary and the General Manager of East Coast Railway was set up to do an analysis of rail-based industries and suggest the most suitable factory or workshop in Kalahandi where earlier a wagon maintenance workshop had been announced in Railway Budget, 2013-14, Mr. Patnaik said.
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The committee deliberated on various possibilities and based on actual demand and other economic considerations of Railways, it has recommended for setting up of the workshop, he added.
The group has also done a feasibility study based on the current operations and concluded that there is an immediate need for a 60 locomotives per year capacity workshop, Mr. Patnaik pointed out.