Agitation over railway division merger continues

BELLARY: Former minister and Secular Janata Dal leader N.M. Nabi said a powerful lobby was behind in the hasty decision of issuing orders from South Central Railway zone directing the Guntakal division authorities to hand over the Toranagal-Bantanahal broad-gauge line from Hubli. This was despite the railway board order being dated April 1, 2003.
Meanwhile, the strikes and `rail roko'' activities entered the eighth day on Monday where the local Railway Action Committee organised rallies and dharnas on railway platforms demanding inclusion of the Guntakal division into the South-West zone and the freight earning track to Hubli division.
JD-S President B.Shivarama Reddy and State General Secretary Y. Nettakallappa supported the agitation by the Railway Action Committee. Nabi charged that there was a conspiracy in clinching the more profitable tracks from the Hubli division and adding them to other zones -- particularly by the South Central Railway zone. With this, the South West zone is left with mere non-profit earning divisions of Bangalore, Mysore and Hubli which are all passenger-oriented divisions.
Nabi also expressed concern over the way things were functioning and said that the conspiracy was to weaken the new south-west zone. He wanted an order to be issued for the Toranagal-Bantanahal track, which had been taken over by Guntakal, to be returned to Hubli.
Nabi also demanded withdrawal of the railway board notification linking the Guntakal division with SC Zone and that it be joined to the newly created SW Zone. This was as per the orders by the South Central Railway on August 6. Nabi also joined the agitators in delaying the trains for over 10 minutes and expressed hope that the two factions merge.
Former chief minister and senior party leader SR Bommai took the responsibility of preparing ground for the merger and would soon submit guidelines for the same.