Visakhapatnam: A series of demonstrations by locals and various joint action committees for a special railway zone for north-coastal Andhra Pradesh with Visakhapatnam as headquarters has not yielded results under the present union and state governments, both of whose terms are slated to end in the next two months.The recent Chalo Delhi Rail Yatra led by Visakhapatnam Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener JVV Satyanarayana Murthy also failed to impress the concerned authorities.Murthy attributed the failure to differences between the state and central governments and their lack of commitment to implement poll promises, despite the railway zone being the people’s chief requirement.Speaking to TOI, Murthy said 10-15 rail rokos demanding a railway zone had been organised over the last five years, but the state and central governments had ignored the pleas.“The railway zone is a completely political decision. The BJP should make this a core election agenda item in the ensuing polls. If not, it may lose its hold in north-coastal Andhra,” he said.Murthy further said the formation of the East Coast Railway zone with Bhubaneswar as headquarters was a political decision made when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister, and in the face of stiff demand by politicians in Odisha.Support for the zone extended to social media, where users demanded a separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam. “Visakhapatnam is a viable place for the railway zone as it will be the financial capital of the state in the future,” tweeted Pradyumna M.A senior railway official from Waltair division of East Coast Railway said that no indication, such as collecting the division’s jurisdiction details from higher authorities, has been made as yet. At present, the division covers 117 railway stations in three states, with an annual revenue of around Rs 7,000 crores.

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