Garibrath skips Duvvada again

No halt provided for the station in the new railway time table

The Railway Board is misleading the people’s representatives and the Railway Minister by not heeding the announcement made by the latter at a public meeting more than 610 days ago, according to former MLA Chintalapudi Venkataramaiah.

The non-inclusion of halt at Duvvada for ‘Garibrath’ in the new railway time table, to be released on September 1, has drawn flak not only from the former MLA but also from the Duvvada Railway Users’ Association and others, who have been fighting for the cause for the past few years.

Mr. Venkataramaiah recalled that the then Railway Minister Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy had announced the halt for the Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad (12739/40) Garibrath at a public meeting at Visakhapatnam Railway Station on December 15, 2012. The railway authorities concerned have not passed the orders for stoppage of the train at Duvvada till date.

While the railways failed to provide a one-minute halt to the train at Duvvada, the South Central Railway has introduced stoppage for the train at Tuni and Tadepalligudem this year. He expressed the view that the demand for provision of a halt at Duvvada was not even discussed at the Indian Railway Time Table Committee by the East Coast Railway Zone.

Adarsh station

The former MLA noted that Duvvada was upgraded from ‘E’ to ‘B’ grade, based on passenger earnings and was identified as ‘Adarsh station’ in 2012. It is an important inter-change point between two railway zones -- ECoR and SCR -- and is situated in a densely populated industrial belt of Visakhapatnam.

Mr. Venkataramaiah noted that he had sent many representations to the Minister of State for Railways, Chairman, Member (Traffic), Executive Director (Coaching) of the Railway Board and the Divisional Railway Manager, Waltair, and had received 10 acknowledgements saying that the matter was being examined.

The former MLA sent emails to Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda, Chairman and Member (Traffic) of Railway Board, GM of ECoR and DRM of Waltair on Tuesday besides handing over a representation to MP K. Haribabu seeking his intervention. He felt that the reluctance of the railways to meet the long-pending demand could lead to public agitation.