Venkaiah instrumental for early completion in Kadapa

Kadapa: The long-cherished dream of Kadapa people will become reality as the train facility between Venkatachalam in Nellore district and Obulapuram of Kadapa district will begin soon. The construction of rail track between Krishnapatnam and Obulapuram was proposed to complete by 2017 but delayed due to various reasons.

M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice-President of India, had played a crucial role in sanctioning and completing the project. It may be recalled that in order to improve the living standards of Rayalaseema people by providing marketing facilities, Venkaiah Naidu had proposed to construct a railway track under the Railway Vikas Nigam (RVN) during Vajpayee government.

Nitish Kumar, who was then Railway Minister in Vajpayee cabinet had sanctioned the project. About 1,900 acres of land and 325 acres of forest land was acquired for the purpose and the Central government has sanctioned Rs 1,668 crore for total project cost including digging two tunnels for a length of 962 metres and 3,063 metres respectively at a cost of Rs 47 crore per kilometre.

About 72-kilometre distance was reduced following completion of railway track. However, there was no progress in the project when Congress-led UPA government was in power for two terms. After BJP-led NDA government came to power in 2014, works were speeded up.

"We are very happy to know that the completion of railway track between Venkatachalam and Obulapuram as the farmers, traders and other sections of the society will benefit in the coming days," said K Venkata Subba Reddy from Cherlopalli told The Hans India. The railway officials are planning to start passenger operations from December this year onwards.