Most of the development works, which were announced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in February 2015 at an estimated cost of ₹.695 crore are still pending. And most importantly, the demand for a separate railway zone has not been addressed, despite several promises made by BJP leaders and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The works sanctioned to Waltair Division included: construction of a wagon workshop (Periodic Over Haul) at Vadlapudi in the city with ₹.214 crore, augmentation of the capacities of the Diesel Loco Shed (DLS) in the city at an estimated cost of ₹.53.14 crore and Electric Loco Shed (ELS) with ₹19.57 crore, ₹.239 crore for track renewal works and ₹.44.68 crore for the closure of unmanned level crossings.
The Wagon POH will ensure proper utilisation of railway assets and prevent empty running of wagons as Visakhapatnam is the wagon-generating point. The POH and augmentation of ELS and DLS facilities will help in improving the freight handling capacity and meeting the planned growth in cargo handling by the two Ports in Visakhapatnam and expansion plans of industry majors in the city.
Unfortunately, even as the financial year 2016-17 is drawing to a close, the wagon POH is said to be still at the finalisation stage and most of the other works are yet to be grounded.
“An amount of Rs.5 crore has been sanctioned for the Wagon POH in the first phase this year. We will place indents with the Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops, Delhi, for procurement of machinery like wheel lathes and cranes. The material is expected to be received by next year,” a top official told The Hindu in March 2015.
In February 2016, Divisional Railway Manager Chandralekha Mukherjee had said: Wagon POH, sanctioned in the last budget, has been finalised and sent to the Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops. She also said construction of Vistodome (see through glass coaches) to be attached to the Araku train, would begin in April and be completed in about four months time.
There are also long-pending demands for construction of four additional platforms, for which the survey was already done in the past, at Visakhapatnam Junction and construction of an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) at the old steam loco shed. A survey has been sanctioned recently to study the demand for construction of a third line from Visakhapatnam to Gopalapatnam.
It remains to be seen whether these would be included in the present railway budget.
