Bhubaneswar: Railways clarifies on shifting of RE office

BHUBANESWAR: Indian Railways on Saturday issued a clarification on shifting of Bhubaneswar office of the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) to Bengaluru. The reaction came after BJD, Congress and CPI (M) reacted on this issue on Friday.
The official statement said Indian Railways has initiated re-organisation of CORE by merging and transferring of its chief project director (CPD) jurisdiction of railway electrification (RE) units in different parts of the country.
Railway Electrification offices at Bhubaneswar and Kolkata have been decided to be closed after March 31. “The restructuring is done for better monitoring of the projects across the country. It is also not the first time that RE has closed down any of its offices. Various projects like Ranchi, Mathura and Kota have been closed down in the past,” said the railway statement.
Railways said RE works in East Coast Railway (ECoR) jurisdiction have been completed. New works like new lines and doubling will be executed along with electrification by the concerned construction agencies of railways like Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Indian Railways Construction Company Limited (IRCON) and ECoR Construction Organization.
Staff and officers of CORE posted in Bhubaneswar will be allowed to continue till current academic session. Thereafter, they will be adjusted as per their choice to the maximum extent possible, said the official sources.
Staff and officers from different zonal and divisional units of Indian Railways- Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Waltair, Bilaspur, Chakradharpur and Kharagpur divisions- have been deputed to RE projects to look after construction for a few years. “After completion of the works or before commissioning of the projects in other RE projects all over India, employees return to their parental cadre or to their initial units. This is the normal practice for all RE projects,” said the statement.
BJD on Saturday alleged that the Centre has shown its anti-Odisha attitude by shifting the office Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru. “The decision ahead of the coming elections violates the model code of conduct for election,” said BJD leader Manas Ranjan Mangaraj.