Vizianagaram, February 18: The Uttarandhra Joint Action Committee has demanded that the Ministry of Railways announce a separate railway zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters in the impending Railway Budget.
At a press conference here on Thursday, JAC convenor J.T. Rama Rao and co-convenor S.U.N. Murty said that separate railway zone was a must in view of the hardship the people in the north coastal districts had been facing. Mr. Rama Rao said though Waltair Division had been earning huge revenue for the East Coast Railway passenger amenities were lacking and blamed the Railway Ministry for the step-motherly treatment meted out to the division. He said he would launch indefinite fast in front of Divisional Railway Manager’s Office in Visakhapatnam on February 22. He demanded the Railway Ministry introduce new regular trains in the budget from Visakhapatnam to Bangalore, Varanasi and Shirdi.
–Agencies