Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced a fund allocation of Rs 2,857.85 crore to the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) in the current budget grant for 2023-24. He also announced an additional amount of Rs 1,700 crore was allocated to ECoR for various amenities and facilitation projects on Friday, February 3.
The major budgetary allotments consist of Rs 2,185 crore for line doubling, Rs 285 crore for new lines, Rs 261.43 crore for track renewals, Rs 51.13 crore for traffic facility work, and the remaining for other projects under the Waltair Division, which is headquartered at Visakhapatnam.
In a press release, Divisional Railway Manager Anup Satpathy said, “The Waltair Division got record allocation of funds. It will also receive a share of the total Rs 1,700 crore allotted to East Coast Railway. The Budget has primarily been concerned with finishing up ongoing projects and building new lines.”
The budget included funds for three major lines. The Jeypore-Malkangiri (130 km) and Jeypore-Nabarangpur (38 km) were allocated Rs 135 crore and Rs 100 crore respectively. A new broad gauge line between Naupada-Gunupur up to Theruvali in Rayagada district was allocated Rs 50 crore.
The new South Coast Railway zone and the new Rayagada Division in ECoR, received a meagre allocation of Rs 10 crore in the budget. Pointing out the discrepancies in the new proposed zone to Andhra Pradesh, Shiva Sankar, president of Uttarandhra Rakshana Vedika said, “The Waltair division which is one of the most profit-making divisions should be merged with the new South Coast Railway. All the MPs of the state have to press this issue in the Parliament.” He added that the proposed divisions for the new South Coast Railway- Guntakal, Vijayawada and Guntur would incur only losses if the Waltair division is not merged. South Coast Railway zone was allotted to the state as a result of AP’s demands following bifurcation.