A BJP MP from Jharkhand has demanded a railway zone in state capital Ranchi, close on the heels of the railways approving a separate zone, South Coast Railway, despite an internal committee advising against the move.
Sanjay Seth the MP from Ranchi met Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav on Tuesday and listed 31 demands of the state relating to railways.
A letter submitted to Yadav demanded, "Immediate creation of a new zonal office at Ranchi in pattern of South Coast Railways, which is the newest zone of of Indian railways created just before general elections."
"If a zonal office is not created immediately, Jharkhand will never be able to harvest the benefit of its mineral resources and will always be remotely controlled by Bihar and West Bengal," it said, adding, "Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on a similar logic and now it is high time to separate its railways from the two states."