Vice President Venkaiah Naidu lays foundation for railway projects

  Nellore: Vice President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu formally launched and laid foundations for various flagship projects of Indian Railways at a programme here in Nellore on Thursday. 

He laid a foundation for the Redevelopment of Nellore station with Rs. 147 Cr, inaugurated new railway line between Venkatachalam-Velikallu and Obulavaripalli-Cherlopalli with Rs. 1,656 Cr; inaugurated foot over bridge at south station constructed with Rs. 55 lakh; launched high-speed WiFi facility at Nellore, Gudur, and Renigunta stations; upgraded passenger amenities at Tirupati station with Rs. 11 Cr, FoB and new booking, reservation counters at Tiruvottiyur railway station constructed with Rs. 1.42 Cr, new booking office at Akkampet in Nellore with Rs. 25 lakh, and new subway at Gummidipundi in Tamil Nadu constructed with Rs. 2 Cr. 

He said he had earlier longed to complete modernization of Nellore Railway Station which realized now under PPP model. He said in the first phase Nellore and Tirupati stations are getting facilities and Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam would be taken up in the immediate phase for improving amenities. 

Venkaiah also said the government is ready to dedicate Nadikudi-Kalahasti railway line shortly and Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) accepted in principle to provide finances for the Chennai-Bengaluru and Vizag-Chennai industrial corridors and said these projects will give enormous employment opportunities for local jobless. He also said protecting the nation is paramount and one should ignore party affiliations and work for harmony and safety of the country. 

Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal, Ministers P Narayana, S Chandramohan Reddy, RS Mem-ber V Prabhakar Reddy, City Mayor Abdul Aziz, ZP Chairman B Raghavendra Reddy, GM of South Central Railways Gajanan Mallya and others were present.