A ‘maha padayatra’ is being organised from March 21 to 29 demanding immediate announcement of the new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh with headquarters in Visakhapatnam and implementation of the assurances given in the A.P. Reorganisation Act.
The nine-day protest is being undertaken by the Greater Visakhapatnam City Committee of the CPI(M).
A poster was released by the party representatives at the Gandhi statue near the GVMC on Tuesday.
‘State starved of funds’
Addressing the gathering, City Committee secretariat member R.K.S.V. Kumar said the BJP government had cheated the people by failing to implement the promises on setting up the railway zone, granting Special Category Status (SCS), and implementing other assurances given in the Act.
He said all political parties had joined forces to fight against the deceit by the BJP.
He alleged that the Modi government failed to honour the commitments made in the Act. The no-confidence motion against the NDA government had majority approval, but the BJP was preventing a discussion on the issue in Parliament.
The railway zone and SCS would bring employment opportunities to educated youth. SCS would result in more industries dropping anchor in the State. The 11 Central universities sanctioned to the State had not been given adequate funds. The special packages promised to the backward districts in the North Andhra and Rayalaseema regions had also met the same fate, Mr. Kumar said.
The padayatra would commence at Maddilapalem at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and cover all the 72 wards in the city. Former MP and CPI(M) State secretary P. Madhu would participate in the inaugural meet. He appealed to the people to participate in the padayatra and make it a success.
