The intervention of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is needed for the formation of a separate railway zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam, C.S. Rao, president of Praja Spandana, said.
Referring to the report: “End to Waltair Division woes in sight?” which appeared in these columns on Tuesday, he noted that the elected political representatives had been fooling the public of Visakhapatnam in particular and north coastal Andhra in general.
He noted that Praja Spandana and other organisations had been fighting for a separate Railway Zone right from the beginning when Waltair Division was tagged on to East Coast mini Railway Zone functioning from Bhubaneswar in Odisha with effect from April 1, 2003.
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“We have nothing against our neighbours but Waltair is virtually being treated as a milch cow and thrown after use.
This Division is almost feeding the other two Divisions i.e., Khurda Road and Sambalpur with an annual income of Rs.5,000 crore,” he noted.
The people of Visakhapatnam had expected a lot from the former MP N. Janardhan Redddy and the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry D. Purandeswari had given a categorical assurance immediately after the elections in 2009 that formation of ‘Waltair Zone was her top priority’.
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It’s possible to form a separate zone with Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East and West Godavari districts and it will change the face of the backward north Andhra region. He called upon the people, political representatives and leaders to launch a massive protest to ensure that a new zone was formed with headquarters in Visakhapatnam.