South Coast Railway Zone’s work set to gain steam with the appointment of General Manager

Appointment of General Manager for South Coast Railway brings relief to rail activists, signaling progress towards operationalisation of the zone.

The appointment of General Manager for the Visakhapatnam-headquartered South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone has come as a big relief for rail activists, from the region, who have been seeking early operationalisation of SCoR, since it was announced more than six years ago, in February 2019.

The Railway Board issued orders on June 5, appointing Sandeep Mathur, as General Manager of SCoR. While welcoming the development, trade union leaders opine there should be no further delay in the issue of a gazette notification on the zone. The gazette will give the boundaries of SCoR and the Railway Divisions under its purview.

The Railway Board has already agreed to retain the residual portion of the existing Waltair Division, instead of merging it with Vijayawada Division as was planned earlier. One part will be merged with the newly formed Rayagada Division, under East Coast Railway (ECoR), and the residual portion of Waltair Division would be renamed and continued as ‘Visakhapatnam Division’ and the Divisional Headquarters will continue to be located in Visakhapatnam city.

The work on construction of the 9 plus 2 storeyed SCoR Zonal Headquarters building, at Mudasarlova, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone in January, this year, has commenced. Meanwhile, the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti buildings, constructed close to the Visakhapatnam Railway Station, are available for use by the GM, pending construction of the Zonal Headquarters building.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to participate in the International Yoga Day event in Visakhapatnam on June 21. “The gazette notification should be issued without any further delay. During his visit to the city, the Prime Minister should announce a date for operationalisation of SCoR, preferably from August 15, the day on which India attained Independence,” says Chalasani Gandhi, veteran trade union leader and a Member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) from Visakhapatnam.

“A separate notification should also be issued for establishment of a Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) in Visakhapatnam, to conduct examinations for filling up of vacancies in the four Divisions – Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntakal and Guntur – under SCoR,” he says.

Hailing the appointment of the GM, rail activists took to social media saying that the long-pending problem of SCR trains, coming to Visakhapatnam junction, being held by up ECoR, at the zonal interchange point at Duvvada, would be a thing of the past after the operationalisation of the new zone.