Availability of adequate railway land, originating earnings of Waltair Division at Rs. 6,265 crore, good infrastructure with air, sea and road connectivity make Visakhapatnam the ideal choice for locating the headquarters of the proposed new railway zone.
At a media conference here on Wednesday, Uttarandhra Rakshana Vedika president S.S. Shiva Sankar said that for over two decades, people have been demanding the establishment of a new railway zone with headquarters here. Waltair Division, the highest revenue earning division, was merged with the East Coast Railway in 2003, when BJP-led NDA was in power at the Centre.
A feasibility study on location of the new zone revealed that Vizag had advantages over all other divisions. The 70-page report has already been sent to the Railway Zone Committee. A total of 782 acres of railway land is available in Vizag as against 157 acres and 27 acres in Vijayawada and Guntur respectively. Of the 782 acres available in Vizag, 210 acres is close to the railway station.
The establishment of the railway zone headquarters should be income-centric and not geographic-centric. With an income of Rs. 6,265 crore, Waltair Division is way ahead of Vijayawada Division with Rs. 3,200 crore and Guntur Division with Rs. 500 crore. The availability of railway establishments, sports facilities, good road connectivity, training institutes, railway sidings, and presence of a large number of industries made the city best suited to establish the headquarters.
The URV president urged the Chief Minister-designate N. Chandrababu Naidu to undo the injustice meted out to Vizag in the past by insisting on location of the new railway zone headquarters here.
