Bhubaneswar, April 9 Biju Janata Dal MP Sasmit Patra urged Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday to revive the state's proposed Metro Rail Project based on the funding model used for the Jaipur Metro.
In a letter to the chief minister, the BJD MP said, "I request the Odisha government to reconsider its 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 due to its poor feasibility.
"On April 8, 2026, the Union Cabinet approved Jaipur Metro Phase-2 (41 km for over Rs 13,000 crore) under the Metro Rail Policy, 2017. It will be implemented through a SPV (special purpose vehicle) with 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 over Rs 13,000 crore, supported by the Union government, is viable, I am sure that the Odisha Metro (Puri-Khurda-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack) with half the cost of Jaipur Metro, would also 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.