Hated Telangana Demerger But Now Demand Demerger Of Waltair!!

This is a blog post written 3 years ago, relavant now due to the ongoing agitation to demerge Waltair division from ECoR.

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Today, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine as we were watching Mamatadi present the railway budget. My friend was disappointed that a decision has not been taken regarding the demerger of Waltair division from East Coast Railway (ECoR) and merger of the same with South Central Railway (SCR). Alternatively, the division was preferred to be made a separate railway zone. Explaining the long-standing demand, my friend said the Waltair division comprising Vizag is the largest revenue earning division in ECoR but ECoR is supposedly giving the division a ‘step-motherly treatment’. Apparently, before Waltair division was merged into ECoR in 2003, it was having rich funds. My friend gave few examples about depots and their budgets. These budgets were slashed by ECoR once it absorbed Waltair. In short, all revenue generated in Waltair is being moved to develop other parts of ECoR, mainly in Orissa. ECoR also seem to have extended all trains originating/ending in Vizag till its headquarters Bhubaneshwar. Waltair also seem to have lost quite a few railway engineering jobs to Bhubaneshwar in this process. And now these jobs are seen ‘out of bound’ for local youth as they are harassed and beaten in Bhubaneshwar when they go there for recruitment exams.

And now the issue is that ECoR wont let go of the cashcow and it is quite understandable! ECoR does not want to lose revenue by losing the ‘rich’ Waltair division. So despite a very prevalent demand among public, no railway minister is granting the much sought divorce.

What is not understandable is that the same friend, who is generally quite objective, does not apply the same logic for Telangana’s demerger from AP and instead argues how the demand is ‘regressive’. Waltair division feels discriminated in ECoR Zone and the people of that division think their division should develop and what more, they think they can survive as a separate zone. There is nothing ‘selfish’ about this. Nor is it anti-national to demerge from the predominantly Orissa division and merge with adjoining Telugu areas. So how come Telangana struggle is not seen through the same prism?

I told my friend that if the demand for Telangana is ‘narrow-minded’, so is the demand of Waltair’s demerger. If Telangana movement is a hate campaign against Andhrites, so is the Demerge Waltair campaign against Oriyas. Of course, neither me nor my friend think the Waltair demand is a hate campaign. All we need to understand is that we should not over simplify these demands. They are justified demands and aspirations. These demerger decisions would bring localised focus on regional development and a more transparent scheme of things where we know sources and destinations of revenues which contributes to better planning and a faster development of resources and infrastructure.

Let us not change the logic, rationality of arguments simply because we think we will ‘lose’ by accepting the truth. In fact, all of this ‘loss’ or ‘profit’ is just perception. Neither me nor my friend would benefit or lose anything personally depending on whether Waltair or Telangana is demerged. So I am not sure why friend can not be objective in both the cases. As my friend said, Vizag station would remain just the way it is, despite a potential to become a central station in the south-east region, because it is not the priority of those in power in ECoR at Bhubaneshwar. However he would not agree that Telangana would remain the same because it is not the priority of those in power in Secretariat. At least, not yet. But I think it is a matter of time before he realizes. Right now, To each, his own truth!

Source: The Argumentative Indian Blog