After Polavaram, Naveen’s objections on rail division

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, June 9, 2014:  More trouble seems to be in the offing for the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu from his counterparts in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

After raising red flag against, the construction of lifeline of Andhra Pradesh- Polavaram multipurpose project, Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, has objected ceding of Vizag’s Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR), having headquarters at Bhubaneswar, into the new state.

Union government assured a separate railway zone to the new state as part of the bifurcation deal and it is expected that Vizag’s Waltair Division would be merged into the new zone that will come into existence in the new state.

Naveen Patnaik is not at all interested in losing Waltair Division, which is the highest revenue getter among all the other divisions coming under ECoR. Jayalalitha, has recently, dashed a letter to the prime minister, Narendra Modi raising objections over including AP’s Tada to Nellore cluster as part of Banglore-Chennai industrial corridor.

Though, Jayalalitha and Naveen Patnaik were, invited for Naidu’s swearing in on Sunday, both gave a miss to the historic event.  Vizag’s Waltair Division is the fourth highest revenue earning of Indian Railways among 70 odd such divisions across the country. With the revenue at Rs 6, 265. 28 crs between 2013-14, Waltair Division tops among the other divisions- Sambalpur and Khurdha- in the ECoR. 

In fact, Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Delhi on last Wednesday, also met new railway minister Sadanada Gowda and raised his objection on ceding of Waltair Division, among other issues. He had also openly stated that, state’s interest would be protected at any cost and the Odisha government would take steps in this regard.

“Though Waltair Division has been the highest revenue earner Vizag never got its due share whether in terms of passenger amenities, new trains. City always got a raw deal. Its not fair that the Odisha government doesn’t want to  Waltair Division to be ceded from ECoR of Odisha. In fact, we want a separate railway zone with Vizag as headquarters,” said Vziag Development Council (VDC), vice president, O Naresh Kumar.

 There has been a demand even before the state division issue cropped up that a new railway zone with Vizag as headquarters with the alleged discrimination towards Vizag by the ECoR of Odisha.

 In a related development a group of persons, staged a protest at Vizag railway station against  Naveen Patnaik’s  remarks on Waltair Division.