With Amaravati being developed as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, MPs from the state have sought better rail connectivity to it.
Cutting across party lines, 16 MPs have sought more connectivity from all parts of AP and important stations of other states to Amaravati, South Central Railway General Manager, Ravindra Gupta said today after a meeting with the lawmakers.
"We have already conducted a survey and the same was submitted to the Railway Ministry. I hope it would be positively considered by the Ministry in the interest of the state," Gupta said.
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The MPs submitted a memorandum, demanding introduction and extension of trains, new stoppages, change of timings for certain trains, installation of escalators and lifts facility at various stations among other issues, he said.
"The demands will be considered...Final decision for the proposals submitted by the MPs would be taken at the Board level only," Gupta said.
Railways is mulling constructing a new terminal at Tirupati in view of the increasing traffic, the General Manager added.
Out of the 32 MPs invited, 16 of them attended the meeting.
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Meanwhile, six ruling TDP MPs left the meeting midway, alleging that the Railways failed to meet their previous demands regarding passenger amenities in their respective regions.
The six MPs -- Kesineni Srinivas, T Narasimham, J C Diwakrara Reddy, N Kishtappa, K Narayana Rao, M venkateswara Rao -- walked out of the meeting, and told reporters that such meeting does not provide any solution to the problems of passengers.
"Rail officials are 'adamant' and have failed to meet the passenger requirements. Even small issues, which we had put forward previously, were not resolved by the officials," Srinivas said.
The MPs said Railway (authority) should first fulfil their previous demands and then convene fresh meetings to discuss new issues.
Meanwhile, other MPs from parties BJP, YSR Congress expressed satisfaction during the meeting.
YSRCP MPs YV Subba Reddy and Rajamohan Reddy thanked the Prime Minister and Railway Minister for sanctioning and allocation of funds in the current budget for Nadikudi-Srikalahasti railway line. They sought that the project be completed within the stipulated period.
They also demanded introduction of new trains on the Tirupati-Shirdi and Vijayawada-Bangalore routes.
