There is an urgent need to appoint an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and declare the new zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters to restore the confidence of the public, aver trade union leaders, railway employees and political leaders. A delegation of MPs Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao (Anakapalle), Kothapalli Geetha (Araku), Kambhapati Haribabu (Visakhapatnam) and Murali Mohan (Rajahmundry) met Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Monday and impressed on him the need to take a decision on the new zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam.
“Declaration of a new zone is a political decision and since it was announced in the AP Reorganisation Bill there can be no going back on it. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has already made his stand clear to the Railway Minister on his choice of Visakhapatnam as headquarters and our party is also in favour of the same,” says Mr. Haribabu, who is also State president of the BJP. “The railways are not in a position to supply rakes to Visakhapatnam Port, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and other industries. Locating the headquarters in the city can solve the problem. The railway has surplus land and assets in Visakhapatnam city and suburbs and appointment of an OSD and skeletal staff besides granting around Rs.10 crore would suffice to begin the work,” says East Coast Railway Shramik Union (ECoRSU) general secretary Ch. Gandhi. “A third division should be created at Rourkela and given to ECoR to make up for the loss of Waltair Division,” he said.
