Question mark hangs over operationalisation of SCoR
The South Coast Railway (SCoR) was announced by the Centre in 2019 following a demand from locals, but there is no indication yet on when the zone will be operationalised
image for illustrative purpose
Visakhapatnam A big question mark continues over the date from which the South Coast Railway (SCoR), the new railway zone announced by the Centre in 2019 following a demand from locals, will be operationalised.
With no indication as of now on the operationalisation of the zone, there is heated debate in various circles whether it will materialise before the general elections, which are due in next nine months.Despite oft-repeat ed announcements by the NDA leaders that it will be formed in a month or two for a long time, still it remains on paper. Incidentally, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a tour of Visakhapatnam in November last year, even the officials had made preparations for laying the foundation stone for the zone but due to unspecified reasons, it was not included in his itinerary at the eleventh hour, springing a big surprise. The government has already accepted the Detailed Project Report which mooted construction of superstructure with 17,000 square metres.
However, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during his visit to the city, inspected the 13 acres of railway land at Wireless Colony to make preparations for finalisation of tenders for zone-related buildings in the area. Originally, the railway authorities had contemplated constructing the zonal headquarters at Mudasarlova, where the State Government promised to give 52 acres in lieu of land acquired for road widening works. However, certain technical problems for acquisition of the land might have forced the railways to rethink their plans on zone related building constructions.
An order was also issued coinciding with the Prime Minister's visit to sanction Rs 106 crore for the construction of required buildings. "Unfortunately, the Centre made a provision to release just Rs 10 crore during 2023-24 and till date no initiative has been taken to invite tenders for construction of buildings. Instead of delaying it further, the existing Divisional Railway Manager's office should be upgraded as the General Manager's office till new buildings come up," Railway Zone Sadhana Committee convener JV Satyanarayana Murthy told Bizz Buzz on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister during a public meeting held here in 2019 as a prelude to general elections had announced the sanction of a new zone with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters in deference to the growing public demand. However, the decision to wind up the historic Waltair division and merge it partly with Vijayawada division and newly promised Rayagada division triggered a controversy with several parties and organisations demanding retention of Waltair division. Waltair Railway Station was created in 1893. The division is one of the highest freight earning units of railways due to ferrying of iron ore and other minerals from Bailwadilla reserves in Chattisgarh to Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Bhubaneswar in Odisha and other distant areas.
The division had recorded the highest ever turnover of Rs 9,294 crore by ferrying freight to different places with a total freight of 69.63 million tonnes. As high as 27.8 passengers made use of trains in the division.
