South Coast Railway (S Co R), the new railway zone, which will have its headquarters in Visakhapatnam, is likely to be operational in a year. An Officer on Special Duty (OSD) has been appointed and he is expected to assume charge in about a week, according to Divisional Railway Manager Mukul Saran Mathur.

Allaying apprehensions, being expressed in some sections, that there would be large scale displacement of staff due to proposed merger of Waltair Division with Vijayawada, the DRM said these fears were ‘unfounded’. Of the 17,000-odd employees working in the Division, about 2,000 each were employed in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, while the remaining 13,000 were working in Andhra Pradesh.

Of these 13,000, around 9,000 were employed in Visakhapatnam urban area as most of the workshops were located in the city and the workforce would continue to work at the same place even if Waltair Division was merged with Vijayawada Division. The only change could be that their records would be maintained at the Divisional Headquarters in Vijayawada, Mr. Mathur told media persons, who met him on Saturday.

The zonal Headquarters for Waltair Division, which was presently in Bhubaneswar, would be in Visakhapatnam after formation of the new zone. This would be an advantage to the employees. On the need to wind up the 125-year-old Waltair Division, he felt that the decision could have been taken for economic reasons. Asked whether there was any rethink on retention of Waltair Division also, he did not rule out the possibility but said no decision could be taken on it till the elections.

Mr. Mathur, however, said that Waltair Division would continue for at least another two years to ensure smooth transition. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager G. Suneel Kumar was present.

Meanwhile, Waltair Division was adjudged No. 1 among all the 68 railway divisions in the country in the implementation of eDrishti, an interactive interface, which was launched by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in December last year.

Felicitated

Revenue and overall performance parameters were also considered but no ranking was given in those areas. In all, 11 DRMs, including Divisional Railway Manager of Waltair Division Mukul Saran Mathur, were felicitated at the ‘Rail Samiksha’ programme, organised by the Ministry of Railways, in New Delhi on March 7. Mr. Mathur received a certificate of appreciation for ‘Leadership and Performance Excellence’ for the year 2018-19. The certificate was presented to him by Mr. Piyush Goyal .