BJP upbeat in Odisha, puts Vizag rail zone on back-burner

VISAKHAPATNAM: The BJP is gaining ground in Odisha. The ruling BJD-led state government there seeking more new divisions seems to have relegated the demand of railway zone in Andhra Pradesh with Vizag as headquarters on the back-burner.   

On the other hand, the senior railway officials of the East Coast Railway said they did not see a special railway zone being sanctioned for AP in the near future citing various hurdles in resource sharing.    

Slamming the BJP government for its cold response to various demands of Andhra Pradesh, CPM state secretariat member Narsinga Rao said, “BJP was never serious about the special railway zone and the AP Reorganisation Act. The zone has become more uncertain now with the pressure from the Odisha government and also BJP’s rise in Odisha. Dividing the ECoR could go against BJP so it would not take any decision that will destroy its prospects in Odisha.”

A senior railway official said, “The reorganisation of the railway zones would not make any difference to the railways. Moreover, it could create more problems in resource sharing. So, the railways could not be in favour of the demand, but we do not know how the Union government is looking into it.”

After the special railway zone demand propped up, Odisha government has been demanding the creation of three new railway divisions and sought all the railway zones of the state should be reorganized to fall under the jurisdiction of ECoR.

It has asked the Ministry of Railways to facilitate the creation of three new divisions under ECoR at Rourkela or Jharsuguda, Jajpur or Keonjhar and Rayagada.

Interestingly, the delay in sanctioning of special railway zone is triggering arguments on Twitter between railway user groups of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.