Uncertainty looms over Waltair division amid SCoR developments

♦ SCoR promised to AP will soon be operationalised: Railway Minister

♦ Ambiguity over land allotment at Mudasarlova for the SCoR zonal headquarters remains

Visakhapatnam: The recent announcement of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw that the South Coast Railway (SCoR) promised 10 years ago, a long pending demand of Andhra Pradesh, will be operationalised soon has fuelled speculation as to whether the ambiguity over land allotment at Mudasarlova here to create the required infrastructure for the zonal headquarters has been sorted out.

Though there is no details available to elaborate on the land allotment, Vaishnaw said the State government and the Centre are amicably settling the issues regarding land required for the construction of buildings for the zonal headquarters in the city. There is no clarity on whether the Waltair division, one of the fastest revenue earning divisions in India due to Kothavalasa-Kirandul (KK) railway section which transports iron ore from the Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh via Jagdalpur, Jeypore and Araku will be retained.

Earlier, all the political parties excluding BJP had strongly opposed the winding up of Waltair division and merging parts of it in Vijayawada division and newly-announced Rayagada division in Odisha.

Waltair division in 2023-24 handled 75 million tonnes of freight with a revenue of Rs 10,000 crore. Major contributions were made by the KK line and iron ore transported from the NMDC mines in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh and various products by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), Visakhapatnam Port Authority and Adani Gangavaram Port Limited. Fifty two acres have been identified at Mudasarlova, most of it the catchment area of Mudasarlova Reservoir. The alienation has been delayed due to several reasons. Part of it, a revenue official pointed out, is meshy making it unfit for construction. Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Rao said the State government is very keen on handing over the site at the earliest.

Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener JV Satyanarayana Murthy told Bizz Buzz that it is the responsibility of the Central and State governments to operationalise the new zone by retaining Waltair division at the earliest without waiting for completion of zonal headquarter buildings. He said even if suitable land is allotted immediately with the required funds, the completion may take two to three years. Murthy said the existing office of Divisional Railway Manager could be upgraded into the General Manager’s office. He said to accommodate some of the office staff, few quarters or vacant buildings in the city could be used.

At the time of announcement in 2019, it was mooted that the Waltair division, set up in 1893, will slip into annals of history. The division came into existence with the construction of Cuttack-Khurda Road and Puri Section. The Waltair division is spread over 1100 km, most of it with an electrified route. It has both diesel and electric loco sheds.

Due to the KK line and Rayagada-Koraput section, which accounts for a lot of revenue due to goods traffic, the freight earning is quite substantial. In fact, KK line is treated as a lifeline for East Coast Railway (ECoR) with headquarters at Bhubaneswar. At the time of official announcement as per item 8 of Schedule 13 (infrastructure) of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Railways said it will examine the feasibility of setting up a new railway zone in the successor State of Andhra Pradesh. This was preceded by an emphatic promise at a meeting here in the run-up to general elections in 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Visakhapatnam would be made the headquarters of SCoR zone. The new zone will comprise existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions.