Land tussle got AP raw deal
Hyderabad, July 3: The bruising ego clash between the state government and the railways over acquiring of land is being cited as a major reason for Andhra Pradesh getting a raw deal in Friday’s rail budget.
It is learnt that the railway board, which allocates funds for new trains and projects, is unhappy with the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government. This was reflected in the budget.
What spoiled the board’s mood was the aggressive manner in which the government tried to acquire the properties of the South Central Railway between Sangeet Junction and Tarnaka for road widening.
After it demolished the compound wall of quarters of railway officials and staff, SCR challenged the government action in the AP High Court.
SCR officials argued that the government should pay compensation since the land belonged to the railways even during the Nizam’s period.
Though the issue was settled after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation agreed to pay compensation, enough bad vibes were generated. And the railway seems to have settled the score by ignoring the state in the budget.
The civil society groups also blamed the Chief Minister for not holding any meeting with the MPs to pursue pending railway projects.
“This is the main reason for the raw deal given to state,” said Dr C. Ramachandriah, convenor of Citizens for a Better Public Transport System.
The MMTS Travellers group has also expressed disappointment over the non-allocation of funds to the phase-II project.
However, Mr Panabaka Krishnaiah, former chief public relation officer of the SCR, said it would be silly to attribute the alleged neglect of the state to the land dispute.
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There cannot be a more silly and stupid thing than to say that land dispute is a cause for Andhra Pradesh not getting what is due to it in the Railway budget, and former CPRO of SCR, Panabaka Lakshmaiah, who unsuccessfully contested for State Assembly on Congress ticket from Gudur, is hundred per cent correct whenhe reportedly said it is a silly cause..
The 33 Congress MPs from state, the largest contribution the Congress party has in the whole country and on whose very support the UPA Government lives and survives, have just not bothered about the state after the people innocently trusted and elected them.
It is no surprise if the UPA chairperson who is praised by the state Congress leaders as a living goddess on earth, the `dependent' and `helpless' prime minister and the `no-nonsensical' Bengali railway minister cared two hoots for the state in the matter of sanctioning new railway lines, trains or projects. Even the chief minister's son, who took a delegation and met railway minister, was ignored.
If the 33 MPs from the state are sincere about the AP people's interests and self-respecting enough, they should quit en masse to show their solidarity with the people, till justice is done forthwith.
Media may not also highlight much about the injustice to the state and the people as Mamata Banerjee has taken adequate care of their needs and given them free railway travel facility all over the country with their families, kith and kin.
People in AP feel thatUnion Railway Minister Ms Banerjee is for the whole country, not for one or two states.
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