Vijayawada: Anger mounts over split of waltair division
Forum for Development of North Andhra general secretary A. Ajai Sarma said giving Waltair division to the East Coast Railway.
Vijayawada: The Centre’s announcement of a railway zone for Visakhapatnam just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the port city falls short of the demand of the people.
Earlier, the Railway ministry decided to divide the profitable Waltair division and merge a majority portion into a new Rayagada division that is proposed to be formed shortly. Now, however, there is a growing chorus that the Waltair division is retained in the newly formed South Coast Railway (SCoR).
Referring to revenue earnings of Waltair division, the division netted revenue of Rs 7,053.12 crore, including Rs 6,515.38 crore on freight and Rs 536.73 crore on passenger traffic during 2017-18.
Forum for Development of North Andhra general secretary A. Ajai Sarma said giving Waltair division to the East Coast Railway will mean diversion of a major chunk of the revenue to the ECoR, which will be counterproductive.