Railway Minister Piyush Goyal here on Tuesday ruled out retaining the 125-year-old Waltair Division headquarters in Visakhapatnam saying there was no need for it as the city would have the headquarters of the newly formed South Coast Railway (S Co R) Zone.
At a media conference, he justified the decision against the demand saying the General Manager would be sitting and calling the shots from Vizag.
The Centre had proposed to merge one part of the division with the proposed new one at Rayagada in Odisha and the remaining part with the Vijayawada Division. The S Co R will also have the Guntur and the Guntakal Divisions. The employees of the Waltair Division want the part proposed to be merged with the Vijayawada Division should be retained as the Waltair Division.
While the TDP described the dissolution of the division and granting the zone headquarters in Vizag as a ‘thoughtless decision’, the BJP leaders had been saying the Centre would rethink the issue.
Mr. Goyal said the zone would come up on the fast-track mode as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) had been appointed.
The people of the Visakhapatnam region were against the merger of the Waltair Division with the East Coast Railway (E Co R), when it was established in 2003.
The Minister attributed the delay in the announcement of the zone to the consultations with all the stakeholders. The Modi government had kept its commitment and announced the zone.
‘Cong. owes explanation’
The Railway Minister termed the Congress manifesto as a document “full of falsehoods.” Commenting on the document released by the party in New Delhi, Mr. Goyal said, “They are promising a lot of money to the poor. But, they are not stating how and from where will the money come from.”
“Will the Congress stop the subsidies being given to the farmers, put a halt to food security on which we are spending over ₹1.8 lakh crore, discontinue the power subsidy, and scholarship being given to the students?” he asked.