VISAKHAPATNAM: Members of parliament from the region will be attending the zonal level meeting of East Coast Railway on September 2 in Bhubaneswar with a view to find solutions to the long-pending issues of Waltair division. This is the first time that the MPs are attending the railway zone-level meeting in the last one decade.
Cutting across political affiliations, Visakhapatnam MP K Haribabu, Anakapalle MP M Srinivasa Rao and Araku MP Kothapalli Geetha participated in an interactive session with retired railway employees, trade union leaders and representatives of various organisations, who are fighting for a separate railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters. At Public Library here Saturday, they discussed long-pending demands like introduction of new trains, increasing the quota of berths and provision of halts at satellite stations.
Though several issues came up for discussions, majority of the speakers were vocal about making Visakhapatnam the headquarters of the new railway zone in Andhra Pradesh. The three MPs said that they would raise the concerns of the people at the zonal meet and strive to solve them.
Among those who elicited their views include, Duvvada Railway Users’ Association representative K Eswar, Uttarandhra Journalist Forum (UJF) representative V Sashank Mohan, CII-Vizag chapter former president G Sambasiva Rao, retired railway employees EVRS Sarma, N Srinivasa Rao, R Rama Rao and K Ramachandra Murty, New World Software CEO Buddha Chandrasekhar, Association for Regional Tribal Development (urban wing) representative Pragada Vasu.