Bhubaneswar: Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee Thursday condemned the decision of the Union government to take out the Waltair Railway Division from the East Coast Railway (ECoR).
The party accused the Central government of discriminating against the coastal state. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Niranjan Patnaik spoke against the move of the bifurcation.
The OPCC President told reporters here that he has planned to launch an agitation protesting the move of bifurcation of the said division which has now sparked a debate in the state which is hosting the ECoR railway zone.
Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister Panchanan Kanungo also demanded the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Tribal Welfare Minister Jual Oram to make their stand clear on the issue.
Addressing the newsmen here, Kanungo termed the decision as a conspiracy to demean the status of the East Coast Railway. He said the ECoR was earning Rs 800 crore per annum due to the Vizag Steel plant and the Vishaskhapatnam port located under the Waltair Division.
The decision to take out the Waltair division from ECoR would adversely affect its revenue as well as grants given in the railway budget.
Kanungo said though the announcement to create a new division at Rayagada is a welcome step, it can generate a maximum revenue of Rs 150 to 200 crore per annum.
The ECoR, he said, will incur a loss of Rs 600 crore per annum.
He demanded a division at Rourkela and Balasore and bring Bokaro and Rourkela steel plants of South East Railway and the Ib–Brajanagar area of the Bilaspur division under the control of the ECoR to compensate its loss.
An official from the ECoR, requesting anonymity, told Orissa POST, “It will not have much impact on ECoR as such. Reason is that the revenue earning position of Waltair Division, i.e., the Bailladila mines of Kirandul and Bacheli will continue to remain with Rayagada Division, only revenue that will be lost will be from Vizag port.”
He also added, “What we have informally gathered is that Odisha and Chhattisgarh portions of Waltair Division will remain with ECoR under Rayagada Division.” According to ECoR, important nodes that will remain with Rayagada are Jagdalpur, Koraput, Sunabeda, Damanjodi & Singapur Road.