Vijayawada: Union Budget criticised for ignoring new railway zone

Vijayawada: Rail passengers and Railway employees have expressed disappointment over the Union Budget as there is no mention of newly created South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) in the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Saturday.

As per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Union government created a new Railway zone, SCoR with headquarter in Visakhapatnam. The new zone has three railway divisions, such as Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal. Unfortunately, the Union government in its Budget had not mentioned about the new railway zone which was created by the BJP government. Moreover, there was no mention of new projects in the State.The members Parliamenthad submitted representation to the SCR GM in Vijayawada, urging the Union government to give priority for development of railways in the State. But as usual, the Railway authorities had ignored the reprsentation.

Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani lashed out at the Union government for not mentioning about the new railway zone. He spoke to media in Delhi after presentation of the Budget. He said both the BJP and YSRCP had cheated the people of Andhra Pradesh in allocations to the State. He was disappointed with the Union budget. Vijayawada division is so far in South Central Railway zone and one of the important divisions in the country with revenue of Rs5,000 crore every year.

Unfortunately, the Union government had not mentioned about the new zone, said. South Central Railway Mazdoor Union Vijayawada general secretary G S Srinivas. He said not only Andhra Pradesh but alsotheStates in the south are always neglected by the Central government.

The state government is planning to shift the executive capital to Visakhapatnam and passed a resolution in the Assembly in this regard. If the executive capital is shifted, people of capital region and other parts of State need more trains to Visakhapatnam. In this backdrop, the MPs of Andhra Pradesh should fight for the new trains to Visakhapatnam from Vijayawada and Rayalaseema regions.