Railway Electrification office at Bhubaneswar to be shut by March end

Bhubaneswar: Indian Railways has decided to shut its Railway Electrificaiton office at Bhubaneswar by the end of this month.

For reorganisation of Central Organisation of Railway Electrification (CORE) by merging and transferring of its Chief Project Director (CPD) jurisdiction of Railway Electrification (RE) Units in different parts of the country, the Railways has decided to shift its offices to elsewhere as per project requirements.

The Bhubaneswar office will be shifted to Bangalore.

The Railway Electrification office at Bhubaneswar has been shifted to Bangalore for its new assigned works in Karnataka. The works assigned to RE/Bhubaneswar for electrification of Azimganj-New Farakka line in Bengal have been shifted to Danapur in Bihar for better monitoring of ongoing projects, there, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) said in a release.

Similarly, the assigned works for RE/Secunderabad have been shifted to RE/Chennai for better monitoring of ongoing works. Apart from this, RE Establishment at New Jalpaigudi has been shifted to Guwahati.

In view of the above, the restructuring is done for better monitoring of the projects. Railway Electrification Units at Bhubaneswar and Kolkata have been decided to be closed after 31st March, 2019. 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 past.

It is mentioned here that, RE Works in East Coast Railway Jurisdiction have been completed. New works like New Lines, Doubling etc., will be executed along with Electrification by the concerned Construction Agencies of Railways, such as Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Indian Railways Construction Company Limited (IRCON), ECoR Construction Organization, etc.

Hence, the staff and officers of RE Organization posted in Bhubaneswar & Kolkata will be allowed to continue till current academic session. Thereafter they will be adjusted as per their choice to the maximum extent possible.

It may also be mentioned here that the Staff & Officers from Different Zonal and Divisional Units of Indian Railways; i.e. from Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Waltair, Bilaspur, Chakradharpur and Kharagpur Divisions are deputed to RE Projects to look after construction of RE projects for a few years. After completion of the works or before commissioning of the projects in other RE projects all over India, staff returned to their parental cadre or to their initial units. This is the normal practice for all RE Projects.

On the other hand, the Biju Janata Dal opposed the Railway’s move.

“Shifting of Railway Electrification Unit from Bhubaneswar is a clear violation of model code of conduct and it is a ploy of Bharatiya Janata Party to win elections in Karnataka,” BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said.