Railway Zone with Vishakapatnam as headquarter is a long standing demand of Uttarandhra People. BJP which won the Vishakapatnam MP seat making this promise is bogging down to the pressure of Odisha MPs and is sitting on the demand. And then, Uttarandhra has got one more reasons for the Railway Zone demand.
An RTI query revealed that East Coast Railways has changed the waitlist quota for Visakhapatnam and north Andhra on the Chennai-Bhubaneswar Super Fast express from the ‘general wait list’ to ‘pooled quota’ with effect from September-end this year. The train was originally Visakhapatnam – Chennai express, was extended to Bhubaneswar by East Coast Railway.
And now Bhubaneswar will rob the quota of berths on the train which is is the lifeline for the people of Visakhapatnam and north Andhra working in Chennai, who can board this train on Friday night to reach Visakhapatnam, early the next morning. All the trains which were earlier from or to Vishakapatnam were extended to Bhubaneshwar and months later their quota of seats were deprived.
There are reports that the Center is considering the option of retaining revenue earning segments with East Coast Railways and form a dummy Railway Zone which will not be sustaining financially. This is to satisfy Odisha as well carry out the promise to AP people but then such move will lead to more trouble. But then these are days of politics for BJP.