NRO to CM: Build alternative Kolkata-Chennai route

If Odisha can initiate a plan to have an alternative Kolkata-Chennai route, in terms of building railway and highway passing through Kharagpur, Baripada, Talcher, Phulbani, Bhawanipatna, Nabarangpur, Jeypore, Malkangiri, Motu, Bhadrachalam and Vijayawada as a heartline, it will bring development in service, add new investment in these places and change the perception, said NRO Prof Digambar Patra of the American University of Beirut.

Moreover, the 100 km radius of such a highway will bring together northern, eastern central and southern districts, minimizing regional feeling, he said in a letter to CM Naveen Patnaik.

While hailing the development plan of present Kolkata-Chennai route via Baleswar, Bhubaneswar and Brahmapur covering 400 km distance in Odisha, Prof Patra said the proposed route via Baripada,