VIJAYAWADA: A delegation of YSRC MPs met Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnav on Thursday and submitted a memorandum urging him to expedite the ongoing railway projects in Andhra Pradesh.
While thanking the Centre for announcing the formation of South Coast Railway Zone with headquarters at Visakhapatnam, they said it is unfortunate that the same was not yet operationalised even after two years of announcement.
SCoR, which will cover the entire state, has potential of becoming India’s most profitable zone with an estimated annual earning at around `13,000 crore, they said and requested the minister to expedite the process of operationalising the railway zone. They expressed concern over the dismantling of Waltair Division, the third highest revenue earner in the East Coast and moving it to Vijayawada, which will only create operational and disaster management issues, they sought minister’s intervention to keep the Waltair division alive and finalise its contours with the Rayagada Division.
The MPs sought five Vistadome Coaches between Visakhapatnam and Araku, while pointing out that even the second coach allocated to Vizag was reportedly shifted to North Eastern Railway. They also urged the minister to set up a Container Corporation of India unit in Mannavaram NTIP-BHEL land in Chittoor district.
A request for the railway recruitment Board for AP was also made. They urged him to expedite ongoing railway projects in the state including tripling of Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam line and new line in Nadikudi-Srikalahasti section. Another request was made for alternative alignment of the Kadapa-Bengaluru new broad gauge and exchange of land in Rajarajeshwaripeta in Vijayawada.
In the Rajya Sabha, answering a question of MP V Viajasai Reddy, Minister for Women and Child Development said her ministry’s comments and her opinions on the two Disha Bills of AP have been sent to the Home Ministry. To another question, she said permission was accorded for setting up 14 Disha centres in 13 districts.