Accusing the Bhubaneswar-headquartered East Coast Railway (ECoR) of meting out step motherly treatment to the high revenue spinning Waltair division, former Gajuwaka MLA Chintalapudi Venkataramaiah has demanded that the Union railway ministry make Vizag the headquarters of the new railway zone to be developed in Andhra Pradesh as per the AP Reorganisation Bill.

In a letter to the Union railway minister Sadananda Gowda, Chintalapudi said that though Waltair division was merged with ECoR in April 2003, ECoR did nothing to develop the division and only used the funds generated by the cash-rich Waltair division to develop Odisha-based Sambalpur and Khurda divisions in the last 10 years.

The railway ministry, Chintalapudi said that ECoR had dished out step-motherly treatment to Waltair division on many fronts. For instance, when it comes to passenger amenity works, ECoR considered only eight stations under Waltair division and 35 stations in Odisha limits for extension of platforms to accommodate 24/26 coach trains.

He added that "Construction of platform number-4, booking counter and minimum essential amenities and extension of foot over bridge at Duvvada satellite railway station on Vizag city's outskirts were sanctioned in 2010, but none of them have been completed till date."

According to him, not a single train was extended from Odisha to Waltair division in the last one decade, though many key trains like Prasanthi Express, Visakha Express and Bhubaneswar-Chennai Express were extended up to Bhubaneswar from Vizag, causing considerable inconvenience to people of the city as well as Waltair division.

"This is a clear indication of the ECoR's bias towards Odisha and step motherly treatment towards Waltair division," Chintalapudi said, adding that in all aspects, the railway authorities, particularly ECoR, had rendered injustice to Waltair division. "The creation of a new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its head office will be best solution in the interests of the people of the city and region," he added.

"When smaller towns like Hubli and Salem can be the headquarters of South-Western Railway and Tamilnadu Railway Zone respectively, then why can't Visakhapatnam, the most important industrial city in south India, not be considered as the headquarters of a new railway zone in Andhra Pradesh?" Chintalapudi asked in his letter to the railway minister.