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The much-speculated decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after ally Mamata Banerjee triggered protests in West Bengal demanding that the 1996 decision taken by the United Front government be stalled.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that the new zone with its headquarters at Hajipur would comprise Dhanbad, Mughalsarai and Danapur to be carved out of Eastern Railway, and Sonepur and Samastipur divisions, taken out of the North Eastern Railway zone. The new zone will be become operational on October one this year, she said.
Stating that the cabinet decision was 'unanimous', she said it was felt that there was no need to change the earlier decisions of the cabinet, taken in 1996, 1998 and 1999, regarding this issue.
Swaraj said the cabinet meeting was earlier briefed by the railway minister and a note circulated on the background and justification for creation of the new zones.
She said the decision was taken keeping in view the substantial increase in workload and the traffic on the railways, as also strong demands from the people and their representatives.
Barring the Northeast Frontier Railway zone, all other zones across the country had been reorganised, she said.
"The Cabinet does not take political considerations into account while deciding on the railway's professional conduct," Swaraj said referring to Mamata's unhappiness.
"Also, there was no inter-state dispute" on the issue, she asserted.
Swaraj said the railway ministry had decided to give its employees a 'life-time option on an all-India basis' to get postings near their home towns to offset any possibility of staff unrest and for better man-management.
Besides the East Central Railway zone, the North Western Railway zone headquartered at Jaipur would come into operation from October one this year, while the East Coast Railway zone at Bhubaneshwar, North Central Railway zone at Allahabad, South Western Railway zone at Hubli, West Central Railway zone at Jabalpur and South East Central Railway zone at Bilaspur would start functioning from April one next year, she said.
Leaders in Bihar cutting across party lines welcomed the Union Cabinet's decision while West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee resented the same and said people of his state would not accept it.
''The Centre should have taken a right decision considering the national interest foremost and without bowing to any narrow political pressure," he said.
PTI
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