Narsaraopet MP Lavu Srikrishnadevarayulu urged the Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal to fulfil the commitment made in AP Reorganisation Act for the creation of South Coastal Railway Zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters while retaining the Waltair division that provides freight services for AP which has many major ports.
Mr. Srikrishnadevarayalu spoke in the Parliament on the Ministry of Railways – Demand for Grants and highlighted several key issues pertaining to AP.
Speaking on Kisan Rail, Mr. Srikrishnadevarayulu said that though the initiative is brilliant, there is a need to include spices in the services provided in the Kisan Rail. Guntur district is a major producer of chili and turmeric but since spices are not added in Kisan Rail, the service is just limited to horticulture and pulses.
Mentioning about Nadikudi – Srikalahasti line, the MP pointed out that though the work has been in progress for many years, there is a need to expedite the construction of the railway line which will give a lot of impetus to growth in the highlands of AP.
The MP also talked about Gadwal and Macherla line which connects Telangana and Andhra. He pointed out that it is not a big distance and was planned 15 years but has not been implemented.
Mr. Srikrishnadevarayulu also urged the Union Minister to upgrade the Narasaraopet station to district headquarters standards.
He also appealed to the Union Minister to upgrade stations in Secunderabad – Guntur line, Sattenapalli, Piduguralla, Nadikudi and Tirupati.
The MP also said the capital expenditure budgeted for 2021-22 is higher than the budget estimate for 2020-21. In 2020-21 there has been underachievement of physical targets of construction of new lines by -40%, gauge conversion by -33%, doubling of lines by -26%, wagons by -17%, and track renewals by -20%.
“This happened when trains were not being run during Covid-19. If the capital expenditure allocation was met then we would have created lakhs of jobs. I would like to know from the Ministry about what is being done to spend the capital expenditure budget of Rs.2.15 lakh crore effectively in 2021-22,’’ said the MP.
