New Railway Zone on Cards for Visakhapatnam

A meeting of the Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDP) was held at the residence of Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Sujana Chowdary on Thursday to discuss the party’s strategy for the remaining part of the Budget session of Parliament that resumed. It was there that the topic of railway zone was brought up too.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu took the lead part and held discussions with 14 ministers. The MPs have informed the Union Ministers that various works and approvals have been pending at various levels and urged clearances at the earliest.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju and several MPs attended the meeting, where issues pertaining to Andhra Pradesh were discussed.

Later, Chowdary spoke to the media saying that the State was confident of ensuring establishment of a new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters, as it was an emotional issue for the people of Andhra Pradesh. He informed that two Union Ministers from the TDP and the State MPs would be meeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday to take up the issue.

In order to speed up various works and programmes from various ministries in the Central government, all Parliament members from the state met various ministers in New Delhi on Friday. Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu took the lead part and held discussions with 14 ministers. The MPs have placed a strong demand in front of the Union Ministers about the railway zone.

Responding to the MPs’ strong demand for setting up railway zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters, Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu informed that the matter was at an advanced stage of consideration with the government. The railway minister, who is also representing the State in the Rajya Sabha, informed the members that he would personally look into the matter and take it up with the Prime Minister.