Uncertainty over new railway zone in Visakhapatnam?

Visakhapatnam: Even after the recent statement by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav that they are not going back on their announcement to form South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the doubts over operationalising it in the near future continues.

Opposition parties find lack of conviction in the Minister's promise saying there is no timeline specified by him to operationalising it after the NDA Government had included it in the Bifurcation Act for consideration following an agitation for a long time for a new zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam mainly to ensure jobs to locals and stop Odisha-centric approach by the Railway Board and the Railway Ministry.

At present, Waltair division, under which Visakhapatnam comes, is part of East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone, which has headquarters in Bhubaneswar. Earlier the division was part of South Eastern Railway before the formation of ECoR along with five other zones. ECoR was formed in 2003.

SCoR is proposed comprising Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal. It will have parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, few bordering areas from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Immediately after the announcement of SCoR, several organisations including YSR Congress Party and Telugu Desam Party had opposed the winding up of Waltair division, which was formed in 1893 with the construction of Cuttack-Khurda and Puri lines.

Waltair division is one of the premier divisions known for providing hefty income from freight. It has Kothavalasa-Kirandul railway line, often described as a lifeline for the railways. It transports iron ore from Baildilla mines in Chhattisgarh through multiple tunnels navigating through the Dandakaranya forests of Eastern Ghats spread over Chattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The Kothavalasa-Rayagada railway line, connected to rich mineral deposits of Odisha, also contributes a lot of freight revenue.

Now there is a proposal to abolish the division and merge parts of it in Vijayawada division and the newly announced Rayagada division of South Odisha.

At the time of announcement, the division used to fetch a freight of 56.54 million tonnes with a revenue of over Rs6,500 crore. The gross revenue is estimated at over Rs7,000 crore with a passenger volume of 35 million before the pandemic. The Waltair division played an important role when Visakhapatnam Port was built by the Bengal Nagpur Railways (BNR).

"We suspect both the YSRCP and BJP are enacting a drama over the new zone. If the Centre is keen on forming the zone what is preventing it to announce a timeline on when it will become operational. Railways has enough land at its disposal near the Railway station, Mudasarlova and Vadlapudi to create infrastructure required for the zonal offices," Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener JV Satyanarayana Murthy told Bizz Buzz on Sunday.

TDP MP K Ram Mohan Naidu said from allotment of a paltry amount of frew lakh rupees in the general budget it is evident that the BJP-led NDA Government lacked the commitment to keep its promise to form SCoR with headquarters in Visakhapatnam like granting Special Category Status.