Nitish Kumar to keep Paswan’s word

patna: railway minister nitish kumar has categorically stated that none of the newly created seven railway zones, including the one headquartered at hajipur in bihar, and 10 divisions would be wound up as this would further aggravate regional imbalances. he said adequate allocation will be made for making the new zones and divisions fully functional at the earliest.the total cost involved in creation of the infrastructure for the new offices would be around rs 900 crore over a period of five years. also, the post of the officials heading the zones will be upgraded to general manager level, he said. the new zones headquartered at bhubaneswar, allahabad, bangalore (now shifted to hubli), jaipur, jabalpur and hajipur were approved by the united front cabinet, when ram vilas paswan was railway minister. later, when the nda came to power, it decided to create another new zone based at bilaspur. unnecessary controversy is being created over the feasibility of these new zones and divisions approved by the railway board and the union cabinet, kumar said. kumar told times news network on sunday that he was surprised by just the reverse note of the railway board questioning the feasibility of the new zones and divisions when he took over the railway ministry. brushing aside the reverse stand of the railway board, i asked why belated objections were raised when everything had been approved both at the board and the cabinet level for creation of new zones, he said, asking, how can i oppose a decision taken for removal of regional imbalances and keeing in mind the hopes and aspirations of the people of different parts of the country for getting their due? kumar said a new zone was created at bilaspur on the intervention of prime minister atal bihari vajpayee. i also personally feel that bilaspur deserved a zonal office as this division alone accounted for 13 per cent of the total revenue of the railways because of heavy movement of goods from the area, he maintained, adding that the railways had to spend only rs 10 crore for creating the new bilaspur zone. he said the demand of bihar and orissa for creation of railway zones in their respective territories was genuine, adding, what is the justification of three zonal offices being located in kolkata and two in mumbai when major portions of their respective areas of operation fall in states like bihar, orissa, gujarat, rajasthan, uttar pradesh, madhya pradesh and karnataka? the minister allayed the apprehension of the people of bihar that the site office for the hajipur zonal office would be shifted. he said that although the railway board has downgraded the post of general managers of all the new zonal offices, including the one at hajipur, the hajipur zonal office continues to be looked after by a general manager-rank official as an additional charge despite the present general manager agrawal having been made additional member of the railway board. kumar maintained that all the newly created zones and divisions will take a definite shape in the next few years. the jurisdiction of the new zones, particularly the hajipur one, and divisions will be decided soon, and finally financial allocations will be increased for their proper functioning, he said. the minister said hajipur is an ideal location for creating a railway zone in bihar because of the gandhi setu. with the completion of proposed railway bridge over the ganga connecting patna with pahlezaghat, hajipur would practically become a satellite town of the state capital. the foundation stone of the railway bridge is expected to be formally laid by the prime minister in the third week of january. the railways have already decided to name the terminus as pataliputra railway station at the patna end near the danapur canal.