`10cr for new railway zone irks vizag-HQ supporters
This has led to suspicion on the intention to operationalise the new administrative set up in the near future
image for illustrative purpose
Visakhapatnam: The sanction of paltry Rs 10 crore for South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) with headquarters in Visakhapatnam in the budget proposals made for 2023-24 has led to suspicion in certain quarters on the intention to operationalise the new administrative set up in the near future.
Though the Centre announced the sanction of the new railway zone at the highest level sometime ago after Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his pre-election rally in Visakhapatnam in 2019 promised the sanction of the zone, it is yet to be implemented due to a variety of reasons.
Contrary to the expectation, during the last visit of the Prime Minister, the proposal to lay the foundation stone for the zone was not included in the official itinerary after declaring sanction of Rs 106 crore for construction of various buildings.
"There is no doubt about the sanction of the new zone but allocation of only Rs 10 crore for the new zone as well as the proposed Rayagada division has forced us to doubt the intention to operationalise it in the near future. In fact, Rs 106 crore sanctioned for the zone has reverted back for remaining unspent," SCoR Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener J V Satyanarayana Murthy told Bizz Buzz on Sunday.
He said pending construction of new buildings required for the zonal headquarters, a cut-off date for operationalising the new zone should be announced. "Let the zone start function temporarily from the office of the Divisional Railway Manager pending construction of permanent buildings," he said.
The BJP blames the State Government for the delay saying the site chosen at Mudasarlova is in need of alienation in favour of the Railways. BJP activist and former Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committee member N Gajapati Rao said there is no dearth of funds for construction of buildings required for the new zone - a long awaited demand of the people of North Andhra. Once the site required is alienated in favour of the railways, construction activity will be launched on a war-footing.
The new zone will have parts of Waltair division, which will be merged with Vijayawada divisions and newly created Rayagada division, Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions. The new zone will have a length of 3,496 km.
Refuting media reports, the railways clarified that SCoR will comprise existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions and parts of Waltair division to be merged with Vijayawada division. Balance portion of Waltair division to be made a new division with headquarters in Rayagada (in Odisha) under the East Coast Railway (ECoR) Zone. South Central Railway (SCR) Zone will consist of existing Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions. The reports had claimed that the project was shelved due to lack of viability.
Meanwhile, BJP MP G V L Narasimha Rao said there is substantial increase in allocation in the budget for development of railways in Andhra Pradesh. He said AP has been allotted Rs 8,406 crore. Waltair division itself received Rs 2800 crore. The allocation for Telangana stood at Rs 4,418 crore. There is an increase by 20 per cent for allocation to AP compared to Rs 7,032 crore last year.
Waltair division got a record allocation of funds of Rs 2,857.85 crore in the current budget grant of the financial year 2023-24. Officials said that over Rs 2800 crore has been allocated to Waltair division for various developmental activities. Waltair division will get a good share from the combined allocation of Rs 1700 crore to East Coast Railway for various amenities and facility works.
