The much-awaited railway zone for Visakhapatnam has at last become a reality. The Union railway ministry has approved the formation of South Coastal Railway Zone with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters.
This was announced by Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav in reply to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party member G V L Narasimha Rao in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
He said the detailed project report for the Vizag railway zone was accepted by the Union cabinet.
A committee of senior officials has been appointed to look into the suggestions made for the DPR on the new railway zone.
The hitherto Waltair division would be replaced by Raigarh division which would be part of the South Coastal Andhra.
“An amount of Rs 170 crore has been allocated in this year’s budget and steps would be taken for the construction of the South Coastal Railway headquarters at Visakhapatnam for which land has been identified,” the Union minister said.
Needless to say, the BJP has claimed credit for the formation of the railway zone for Visakhapatnam, which has been the long pending demand for the people of the state.
In fact, it was promised as part of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, but the Centre has been dodging the same.
Many times, the Centre said the zone was not feasible, but the political parties have been insisting on the same. Finally, the Centre has agreed for the same and took a positive decision, and so, the BJP takes credit for the same.
“It was only because of the BJP, the railway zone has become a reality. We have been consistently pursuing the same with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has showered the boon on the state,” BJP state president Somu Veerraju said.
He attributed the delay to the indifferent attitude of the state government.
“Injustice was done to the state only due to callous attitude of the state government in releasing funds from its side,” Veerraju added.