The metro project in Bhubaneswar initiated by the previous Biju Janata Dal government, which hit hurdles after the regime change in Odisha, now appears to be a distant dream after the Bharatiya Janata Party government recently scrapped the ambitious plan citing ‘operating losses.’
In a cabinet decision last week, the government also regularised an expenditure of Rs 273.51 crore spent on the project so far and terminated the agreement with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which was roped in to take it up.
“The decision follows the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee, which, after a detailed review, identified key feasibility challenges including non-compliance with the National Metro Rail Policy (2017), below-threshold traffic demand, and low ridership projections. Continuing the project in its present form would have risked recurring annual operating losses,” read an official statement after the cabinet meeting.
The role of the agency—Bhubaneswar Metro Rail
Corporation Limited—formed to implement the project has also been repurposed to coordinate the ‘sustainable urban mobility transition plan’ in Odisha.
Irrespective of the reasons cited by the government to scrap the project in its present form, officials said the huge fund requirement from the state’s own resources and the burden on the exchequer pushed it back.
“The project cost for the first phase was estimated at Rs 6,300 crore while it was decided to bear the entire cost from the state’s own resources, which the present regime doesn’t want. It has its own priorities in resource mobilisation. Even if it reconsiders the project in future, it would partner with the Union government considering the same political ecosystem both in the state and at the Centre,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.
To take up the project on its own, as decided earlier, the government would have had to depend on external agencies for loans, which would spike the state’s debt burden, projected at Rs 1.34 lakh crore as per the Economic Survey 2025-26.
Months before the 2024 general elections, former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for the project on January 1 amid much hype over a big infrastructure push. The BJD also used the project in its election narrative to gain political brownie points.
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As per the initial plan, the metro was to run on a 26-km route from Bhubaneswar Airport to Trisulia near the Orissa High Court in Cuttack, with 20 stations on an elevated viaduct. It was to be extended to nearby urban centres like Cuttack, Khurda and Puri in phases. Groundwork was also expedited by the previous government, and the project was listed as a ‘top priority’.
With BJD’s fall in the 2024 simultaneous polls, the project also hung fire, with the BJP government cancelling the tender in July 2025 and forming an inter-ministerial committee to examine various aspects before finally scrapping it last week.
Apart from financial implications, apprehension over the ‘political mileage’ from the project is believed to be another reason why the BJP government did not pursue it. “If the project had proceeded as planned, the credit would have gone to the BJD government for initiating it and preparing the ground,” said a source.
Political slugfest
Amid opposition criticism over the cancellation, growing public discontent prompted BJP’s Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi to urge the state government to reconsider its decision ‘concerning larger public interest’.
In a letter to Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi, Sarangi noted she had advocated for the metro project in Bhubaneswar since September 2022 and also described the working and set-up of BMRCL as ‘impressive’.
Sarangi also expressed disagreement with the ‘operating losses’ cited as the reason for scrapping the project.
“Certain development projects are taken up by the government keeping larger public interest in view and not for profit. None of the metros in India have been implemented with an anticipation of immediate profitability. These are all subsidized by the concerned state government,” she noted in the letter.
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The opposition, which called the decision a ‘betrayal’ of the people of Odisha, upped the ante after the Union cabinet recently approved Phase-2 of the Jaipur metro project in Rajasthan costing Rs 13,000 crore.
“If Jaipur Metro Phase-2 of more than Rs 13,000 crores supported by the Centre is viable, I am sure metro in Odisha with half the cost of Jaipur Metro Phase-2 would find viability and policy-alignment,” said BJD MP Sasmit Patra.
In a letter to the Odisha CM, Patra also urged adoption of the Jaipur funding model in consultation with the Centre.
Public sentiment and anger over the decision also put the government in a spot, with Odisha’s urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mohapatra saying the project has been ‘put on hold’ and not scrapped.
Briefing reporters on Friday, Mohapatra said the metro in its present form was not viable. “We don’t deny that there is no need of metro in Odisha and it’s under consideration. We are now preparing a comprehensive mobility plan for Bhubaneswar. Thereafter, we will think about metro,” said Mohapatra.
