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Proposal of railway zone at Vijayawada opposed
All party leaders staged a dharna at Gandhi statue near RTC Complex here on Wednesday and alleged that the BJP and Telugu Desam Party had conspired to take away railway zone headquarters to Vijayawada. Leaders from CPI, CPM, YSRCP, Lok Satta and several mass organisations participated in the sit-in protest.
Visakhapatnam: All party leaders staged a dharna at Gandhi statue near RTC Complex here on Wednesday and alleged that the BJP and Telugu Desam Party had conspired to take away railway zone headquarters to Vijayawada. Leaders from CPI, CPM, YSRCP, Lok Satta and several mass organisations participated in the sit-in protest.
Addressing a meeting during the dharna, CPM leader Ch Narsinga Rao strongly condemned the proposal to establish railway zone at Vijayawada betraying the people of north coastal Andhra. He alleged that leaders of both BJP and TDP were trying to keep north Andhra under the East Coast Railway zone.
Rao pointed out that the State Assemblies of combined AP and new Andhra Pradesh unanimously passed a resolution seeking railway zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters and now all of a sudden Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu changed the track and was proposing railway zone headquarters in Vijayawada.
“It is shameful on part of the Chief Minister,’’ Narsinga Rao said. He said if the zone was shifted to Amaravati, the north Andhra region would continue to remain backward. The city has all the facilities that were required for a zonal headquarters. It has a huge marshalling yard, several major industries and two major ports.
There is a scope of realising earnings to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore if the zone was created, he said and added that the State would also witness rapid development. He said a massive dharna would be held at DRM office on Thursday.
YSRCP leader Koyya Prasad Reddy and former Minister Konathala Ramakrishna said the TDP-BJP combine was betraying the people of north coastal Andhra. They also called for intensifying agitation and organising rail roko.
Former IAS officer and Praja Spandana president CS Rao, former Vice-Chancellor of Dravidian University Prof KS Chalam and other senior leaders of various political parties were present.
