Aspirations of passengers from north Andhra districts did not get satisfied with the provisions in the Railway budget proposals announced on Friday. The long-pending demand of forming a railway zone with headquarters at Visakhapatnam did not have any mention in the budget and political parties reacted sharply by organising several protest marches in the city.
Anakapalle Praja Rajyam MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao appreciated the Union Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee for not increasing railway fares, reducing reservation charges and introducing new trains to Secunderabad, Howrah and extending the Vizag – Nizamabad express to Nanded. Pegging fare at Rs. 25 for a distance of 100 k.m. was pro-poor, he added.
The Communist Party of India strongly criticised the lack of interest on the part of five Members of Parliament in getting genuine demands of railway passengers fulfilled or speak out strongly in the House. It took out a mock ‘funeral procession' from the Divisional Railway Manager's office to Visakhapatnam Railway station in the evening. The Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad Duronto Express was announced in the last Railway budget and it was only a reiteration now, said CPI district secretary J. Satyanarayana Murthy. He questioned the wisdom in not diverting the through trains to Visakhapatnam, while they were now touching Duvvada only. People looked forward to trains to Shirdi, Chennai and Bangalore as the experimental special trains were very successful, he said.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao said none of the 32 ruling party MPs from the State was taking any interest in bringing projects or trains to Andhra Pradesh. The creation of railway zone did not come true; privatisation in the Railways was slowly increasing with the implementation of several projects in the Public Private Partnership mode, he added. New railway lines and trains in the last budget were not introduced till date, but the same ones were being shown as new proposals in the current budget, he observed.
Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy expressed happiness at the new provisions in the budget and said justice was done after a long time. Former CEO of Andhra Petrochemicals Ganti Mahapatruni Rama Rao said the budget was full of jugglery of numbers and statistics. It was funny to say that the earnings went up by 0.17 per cent. She showered some sops on Tamil Nadu and Kerala, perhaps with the connivance of the DMK and Congress due to the impending elections to the legislatures there, he observed. The Railway Employees were happy as dependent parents were also made eligible for travel pass. The Vizag Journalists' Forum also appreciated the provisions in the budget.
