The Hindu : Modified notification on new rly. zone yet to be issued

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Modified notification on new rly. zone yet to be issued

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI Feb. 8. Is the case of transferring the Thoranagallu-Guntakal line back to the Hubli Division and, consequently, to the new South-Western Zone, turning out to be another case of many a slip between the cup and the lip.

It appears to be so judging by dilly-dallying over the formal notification to that effect as part of the arrangements being made for the inauguration of the zone by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee.

According to information available, all those concerned in the Union Government and the Railway Ministry have agreed to the State's demand for the transfer of the line to the parent Hubli Division. That includes the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the Minister for Railways, Nitish Kumar. And only the other day, it was given to understand by BJP circles in the State that the Railway Board had cleared the move.

The expectation was that the signing of the papers by the Railway Minister was a mere formality.

The modified notification about the formation of the new zone was expected to be released when the Union Minister for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Ananth Kumar, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar met presspersons last evening to brief them about the two-day programme of the Prime Minister who is expected to visit the State on February 13 and 14. But that did not happen.

Obviously, Mr. Nitish Kumar, had not yet approved the modified notification.

For some reason, Mr. Kumar apparently linked modifying of the notification to the case pending in the Supreme Court questioning the rationale of setting up the new zones. Efforts to convince him that the pending case in the Supreme Court had nothing to do with the State's demand were unsuccessful.

The BJP leaders in the State want people to believe that the modified notification will be issued before Mr. Vajpayee visits Hubli. The inauguration of the new zone without the Thoranagallu-Guntakal line will prove counterproductive to the BJP.

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