Hyderabad, February 22: Praja Rajyam president Chiranjeevi has appealed to Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to make substantial allocations in the Railway budget to the State.
In a letter written to her, he pointed out that the projects proposed in the State needed about Rs 15,000 crore and with the meagre allocations made in the past, they were progressing at a snail’s pace.
Chiranjeevi said that the South Central Railway accounted for 12 per cent of the total revenue of the Indian Railways but it was not getting even 2 per cent in return.
He pointed out that an internal survey by SCR had found that introduction of new trains between Visakhapatnam-Tirupati, Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad-Bangalore and Hyderabad-Chennai was essential and would bring profits.
The survey also found that construction of new lines such as Bhadrachalam-Kovvuru, Ongole-Donakonda, Jadcherla- Nandyal, Manuguru-Ramagundam, Bitragunta-Donakonda and Cumbum-Proddatur would be profitable, the PRP president noted.
Track doubling works were not taken up or not completed and there was no modernisation, he said alleged that the gross injustice smacked of regional bias.
Naidu mourns Yadaiah
HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu today expressed shock over the death of Yadaiah who torched himself yesterday for the Telangana cause. In a press release here today, Naidu urged students not to take their lives.
Meanwhile, TDP leader N Janardhan Reddy condemned the State Government for preventing the public from attending Yadaiah’s last rites.
—Agencies