Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has promised to set up the headquarters of the new railway zone in Visakhapatnam. This will become a reality in the next couple of months and the Railway Minister himself would come down to the city to make the announcement, former MP M.V.V.S. Murthy said at a programme organised by the East Coast Railway Shramik Union (ECoRSU) to bid adieu to the outgoing DRM Anil Kumar and welcome the new incumbent Chandralekha Mukherjee here on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering, he said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has also insisted on the headquarters of the new railway zone to be set up in Visakhapatnam. Dr. Murthy was all praise for Mr. Anil Kumar for leading the officers and staff of the division from the front in the restoration work after cyclone Hudhud had devastated the railway station, staff quarters and destroyed the green cover. It was all the more commendable that Waltair Division had surpassed its freight target by more than 6 per cent, compared to last year, despite cyclone Hudhud.
Foreseeing tremendous growth in the railways during the next 10 years in view of the proposals to run bullet trains and capacity expansion plans, Dr. Murthy expressed the view that Ms. Chandralekha Mukherjee had come at the right time and hoped that her tenure would see tremendous growth in the division as also the headquarters of the proposed new zone. He also advocated cordial relations between the trade unions and the administration to foster growth of the region.
Presiding over the programme, ECoRSU president Ch. Gandhi said that the Railway Minister would also lay the foundation stone for the Wagon Repair Shop to be set up in Visakhapatnam. The headquarters of the new zone would also mean the city would get the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and lot of potential for development of the region. Additional DRM M.L. Meena and ECoRSU working president D. Shaleel recalled the contribution of Mr. Anil Kumar to the development of Waltair Division.
The outgoing DRM and the new incumbent were felicitated.