AP govt rubbishes reports on new railway zone

New zone is carved out of East Coast Zone. Waltair zone will be wind up by merging its areas under Vijayawada and Rayagada divisions. The revenue from the new zone is at $1.6 bn

Visakhapatnam: The reports in a section of the media on denial of establishment of a new railway zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam by the Union government has generated a lot of heat in Andhra Pradesh with the YSR Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party describing it as the handiwork of vested interests to mislead the public.

YSRCP parliamentary party leader V Vijaya Sai Reddy said on Wednesday that there was no truth in reports that the issue figured at the meeting convened by the ministry of Home Affairs. The meet was held to discuss pending issues pertaining to the implementation of promises made at the time of bifurcation. The meeting was attended, among others, by Andhra Pradesh chief secretary Sameer Sharma and his Telangana counterpart Somesh Kumar.

A DPR (detailed project report) has been finalised by the railway board after which the Centre said they will finalise the date for operationalising the new zone by carving it out of East Coast Zone (ECoR) and winding up Waltair zone by merging its areas under Vijayawada and Rayagada divisions. The DPR projected the revenue from South Coastal Railway (SCoR), the new zone, at around $1.6 billion.

Tuesday's meeting discussed the implementation of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. It's a travesty of truth claimed railway board chairman VK Tripathi and home secretary Ajay Bhalla that the creation of new zones is not technically feasible. The issue itself did not figure in the discussions, Vijaya Sai Reddy and BJP national spokesman and MP GVL Narasimha Rao said separately reacting over the reports published in the media.

Reddy said the 'yellow media' was involved in false propaganda to tarnish the image of the YSRCP government and declared that he will quit from Rajya Sabha membership if the promise is not fulfilled.

Narasimha Rao while admitting that the Railway Board had found in 2018 that the formation of new zones was not technically feasible, said "keeping in view the demand of the people of the region and the promise made in the AP Reorganisation Act, the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking concrete steps to operationalise the zone as soon as possible."

"There are plenty of land parcels at Mudasarlova, Vadlapudi and other areas belonging to the railways for construction of the permanent buildings to house zonal headquarters and staff quarters and funds are also not a constraint," Rao told Bizz Buzz during his recent visit to the city.

Reacting to the media reports, the TDP, the Left parties and several other organisations came down heavily on the NDA government for going back on its promise to form the new zone. Forum for Development of North Andhra (FDNA) General Secretary A Aja Sarma said it is unfortunate to hear the Centre's decision to reject the demand of the North Andhra people. He threatened to launch an agitation if the promise is not fulfilled.

Trashing the media reports, East Coast Railway Waltair Division also released a statement to clarify that the DPR for setting up of new zone is currently under review. An Umbrella Work titled "Creation of New South Coast Railway Zone and New Rayagada Division in East Coast Railway" was also included in Budget 2020-21 at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore.

"Land pocket for construction of SCoR Zonal HQs Office Complex has been identified. In order to fast-track the process, Railways has also been directed to take up suitable work for preliminary activities like land survey, and other construction pre-requisites. Recently, architectural plan for SCoR Zonal Headquarters has been submitted by the architect for scrutiny," said the statement.