AP CM reminds Centre of railway zone for AP, other promises

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said he would follow up with the centre on Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, especially the special railway zone for the state.
"Grave injustice was done to the state during the last 10 years in (sanctioning) lines, trains, development etc. In the bifurcation Act, it is said that special zone will be created at Visakhapatnam....It did not come in this budget. I feel bad about it," he told reporters here.
Naidu, however, added that the Railway Ministry appeared to have focused on mobilisation of resources and improvement in services in the budget presented by Suresh Prabhu.

"The minister commented that a supplementary budget would come. That's why they talked about only improvements like completing railway lines, introducing wi-fi, providing ACs in local trains....I feel details of all projects would come in the supplementary budget after a thorough exercise. Without commenting (on the budget), we will go to them again," he said.
"We will tell them about the injustice done to us and the future requirements and try to get as much as possible," Naidu said.
The Chief Minister also mentioned that he had given consent to proposals from the Centre to set up special purpose vehicles and joint ventures for railway development projects.

The AP government wanted new railway lines, speed trains, connectivity to the new capital and railway cargo projects, he said.