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A prominent Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Suresh Kumar Routray on Thursday threatened to paralyse rail movement throughout Orissa if the newly created East Coast Railway zone was not made operational from October 1, 2002.
"Rail movement on the Howrah-Chennai and Howrah-Mumbai main lines would be paralysed indefinitely from October 2, 2002, if the new zone does not become functional from October 1, 2002," Routray said in a statement.
The statement referred to the earlier announcement by the Railways Minister Nitish Kumar that the East Coast Railway, along with four other zones would come into existence from April 1, 2003, while two other new rail zones, headquartered at Hajipur and Jaipur, would become operational on October 1, 2002.
"We want that the East Coast Railway zone, a long-standing demand of the people of the state, should also come into existence on October 1," Routray said.
The former minister also questioned the appointment of an officer of the rank of additional general manager to head the East Coast Railway zone 'which would continue as an appendage of the South Eastern Railway' and termed such arrangement as 'unacceptable'.
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