Nothing concrete emerged on the proposed railway zone for the State out of the pre-budget consultation with MPs held here on Tuesday. South Central Railway General Manager P.K. Srivastava said that the committee constituted by the Railway Board was seized of the matter.
Some MPs raised the issue but the GM was not in a position to give any sort of assurance as it was to be decided by the Ministry of Railways. “A committee has been set up by the Railway Board, people are working hard on it and once the report comes out, the Ministry will take an appropriate decision”, he said in a media briefing that followed the meeting which was attended by 18 MPs in the purview of Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions.
Machilipatnam MP Konakalla Narayana Rao said the location of headquarters of the proposed zone has to be chosen from the administrative point of view amid claims and counterclaims for it from Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and some other places.
MP M. Murali Mohan said the Railways should give top priority to pending projects in Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri area which has been declared as capital region. The train to the national capital from Vijayawada which has been pending for long could not wait any longer in view of the norm of connecting every State capital to Delhi.
MP Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) said Vijayawada station was sought to be developed into a model station. A delegation of all political parties from Guntakal railway division, in a memorandum to Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu, appealed for speedy execution of pending projects.
A committee has been set up by the Railway Board, people are working hard on it and once the report comes out, the Ministry will take an appropriate decision
P.K. Srivastava
South Central Railway General Manager
