The Railway Budget belied the expectations of people who said that by paying little attention to pending projects in Andhra Pradesh, the Ministry of Railways had given the impression that it was not really bothered about attaching importance to the development of railways for the economic growth of the fledgling State. Except for the introduction of a daily air-conditioned train from Vijayawada to New Delhi, they had nothing to be satisfied with.
K. Sambasiva Rao, a passenger from the city, said a high speed train between Vijayawada and Hyderabad would be of good use to the travelling public in view of the significance of the cities and the movement of a larger number of passengers anticipated in the near future. Stating that by introducing one such train, the journey time from Vijayawada to Hyderabad could be reduced by one-and-a-half hours, he said unfortunately the railway officials lacked the vision.
N. Srinivasa Rao of Rajahmundry said establishment of headquarters of the proposed South Coastal Railway Zone in Vijayawada would have brought more trains and facilities and generated employment for both skilled and un-skilled manpower in and around the city.
R. Krishna Murthy of Guntur said it was a collective failure of people’s representatives of the State in getting adequate number of new trains introduced and pending projects cleared.
S. Pavan Kumar of Machilipatnam said priority should have been given to improving the catering services which were very poor. Ravi Kumar of Vijayawada said cleanliness in trains and on platforms should have been a thrust area, but it as not given the deserved priority.
Andhra Pradesh was allocated only Rs.116 crore in the Railway budget for the ongoing railway line projects against its request for Rs. 650 crore. Though Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu and a team of ministers met the Union Railway Minister and sought funds for six ongoing projects --Nandyala-Yerraguntla, Venkatayapalem-Obulavanipalem line that connects Krishnapatnam port to mineral rich areas of Rayalaseema, Kotipalli-Narsapur line, Nadikudi-Srikalahasthi, Kadapa-Bangarupeta and Kakinada-Pithapuram- allocation belied the State’s expectations. R. Kishore Babu,
Social Welfare Minister, who accompanied the Chief Minister to the Railway Minister said here on Tuesday that the State government would pursue with the Railway Ministry to re-appropriate the budgetary allocation so as to allocate funds to the ongoing projects from the inactive projects.
