Much-awaited railway zone excluded in first 'Amrit Kaal' budget

Visakhapatnam: Even as railways gets the highest-ever capital outlay in the first budget of 'Amrit Kaal', the most prominent South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone did not find any place in the 'Saptarishi' budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Apparently, people of North Andhra express disappointment as they have been eagerly waiting for the new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters.

As a part of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, the new SCoR zone was announced in 2019. There was an announcement of Rs 170 crore in 2020-21 Union Budget to set up SCoR. After the announcement of a new railway zone, Rs.1,000 was allocated in the first budget and Rs 40 lakh was included in the subsequent budget.

However, in Budget-2023, there is no clarity in terms of allocation of funds for the new zone. It took two years of time for the railway officials to prepare a DPR (detailed project report) and submit a report to the Railway Board about the new zone. Except, a minimum budget allocated earlier, no major allocation was made in subsequent budget presentations.

Earlier, a site was identified for the construction of the SCoR zone headquarters building complex. In line with this, the government had allotted 57 acres of land at Arilova to the railways for the proposed zonal office. Although the allotment of the site was taken up, the process of handing it over to the railways is yet to take shape.

Meanwhile, a DPR on the new railway zone was prepared and submitted to the Railway Board three years ago. Assessment was made on the number of staff required for the zonal office and the amount that would cost to set up a new zone.

Referring to the new railway zone, former member of zonal railway users' consultative committee N Gajapathi Rao says that clarity would arrive in three to four days on the budget allotted for the new railway zone. "Union government would release a pink book. A clear picture on the allocation of respective projects would be mentioned in it."

Earlier, railway budgets used to be presented separately wherein the allocation of each project would be projected. As the railway budget has been merged with the general budget, clarity on each project allocation of the railways takes a little time.