Bhubaneswar, Apr 9 (PTI) Biju Janata Dal MP Sasmit Patra on Thursday urged Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to revive the state’s proposed Metro Rail Project on the line of the Jaipur Metro funding model.
In a letter to the chief minister, the BJD MP said, “I request the Odisha government through you to reconsider the decision to scrap the Odisha Metro project, and Odisha should adopt the Jaipur funding model in consultation with the Government of India.” The BJD MP’s letter comes five days after the state Cabinet approved a proposal to put on hold the Bhubaneswar Metro Rail Project in view of its poor feasibility.
“On April 8, 2026, the Union Cabinet approved Jaipur Metro Phase-2 (41 km over Rs 13,000 crore) under the Metro Rail Policy, 2017. It will be implemented through a SPV (special purpose vehicle) on a 50:50 sharing by the Centre and the state and supported by subordinate debt and external financing,” Patra stated in the letter.
He said that the Jaipur model sets a clear precedent that large metro projects are being implemented through a structured Centre–state partnership.
“The Odisha Metro (Bhubaneswar–Cuttack–Khurda–Puri), with an approved cost of only Rs 6,255 crore in 2024, is less than half the scale of Jaipur and was originally conceived as a 100 per cent state-funded project,” he said.
Patra noted that under the Jaipur model, the Odisha Metro project would require only Rs 3,100 crore each for the Centre and the state.
“If the Jaipur Metro of more than Rs 13,000 crore supported by the Union government is viable, I am sure Odisha Metro (Puri-Khurda-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack) with half the cost of Jaipur Metro, would find viability and policy-alignment,” he argued.
Patra had earlier, on April 6, written a letter to Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal and sought his intervention to save the Bhubaneswar Metro rail project.
He said discontinuing the Bhubaneswar Metro Rail project would undermine a critical mobility and economic backbone for the state.
The proposed Odisha Metro along the Puri–Khurda–Bhubaneswar–Cuttack corridor would benefit the people of Odisha with safer, faster travel, students and youth with better access to education and jobs, and senior citizens with more comfortable transport, he said.
The project would also boost tourism by improving connectivity to key destinations, support small businesses, and drive economic development by reducing congestion and creating new opportunities, he said.
Odisha’s Works minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said that the state government has not scrapped the Bhubaneswar Metro Rail project, but is seeking an alternative model to implement it. PTI AAM AAM RG
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