MPs resent holding railway meet just before budget

Seek new zone for State, station at Amaravati and completion of pending projects

Stock-taking: MPs at the meeting with railway officials in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

MPs from the State questioned the railway officials on holding meeting with them just a few days before the presentation of the Railway Budget in Parliament.

They said the meeting was held for formality and many pending projects discussed in the earlier meetings were not taken up. The railway authorities organised the meeting with the MPs here on Tuesday. South Central Railway (SCR) General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav chaired the meeting.

MPs Maganti Venkateswara Rao, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Y.S. Avinash Reddy, Thota Narasimham, Konakalla Narayana Rao, V. Varaprasada Rao and Avanti Srinivasa Rao and Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) R. Dhananjayulu participated.

The GM clarified that the meeting could not be conducted in advance due to the Parliament session. The MPs appealed to the railway officials to arrange next meeting at least three months before the Railway Budget.

They stressed the need for giving connectivity to State Capital Amaravati to Bengaluru, Rayalaseema and Vijayawada, by constructing a railway station at Amaravati. Setting up of a railway zone and completion of pending projects were the major issues, they said.

‘Connect tribal villages’

Rajamahendravaram MP M. Murali Mohan appealed to the railway officials to complete the Kovvur-Bhadrachalam railway line, which would provide connectivity to many tribal villages and the Polavaram village in A.P. and Telangana.

Mr. Yadav said technical issues for taking up the project were sorted out and the Kovvur-Bhadrachalam line work would be taken up soon.

Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy said the 309- km Nadikudi-Srikalahasti line stretch was going on at a slow pace,and sought speeding up of the work.

Mr. Yadav said the Tirupati railway station would be developed as a world class station with ₹400 crore, and the work would begin shortly. Doubling and electrification of the Vijayawada-Gudivada-Bhimavaram-Narsapur and Nidadavole was going on, he said.

The General Manager said the Railway Ministry had given the nod for utilising safety funds for the construction of foot over bridges and escalators and about 200 bridges and 100 lifts and escalators would be constructed at various stations in the State. The DRMs of Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntur and Guntakal attended the meeting.