Visakhapatnam: Minister of state for science and technology Y. Sujana Chowdary, citing a railway technical committee report, on Thursday said special railway zone for Andhra Pradesh headquartered at Visakhapatnam was not viable.
Replying to a question during a press meet in Andhra University, he said the committee had given a report saying that it was not viable to have a separate zone in Visakhapatnam.
He also said that the zone demand may not appear in the coming Budget, but the state will explore all options and take up the issue at all relevant platforms. “We are 99 per cent certain that our efforts will bear fruits,” he said.
The formation of a railway zone was mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014 and it was promised both by the UPA and BJP. But over the past three years, there has not been any headway and no clear-cut assurance has been given by the Centre.
Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani, after he visited the Waltair Railway division last month, also did not sound positive on the demand for special railway zone saying that there were already many small zones and passed the buck to the ministry of Railways. The Railway top officials have been stating that technically the zone is not possible but it can happen only when Centre wants by-passing the feasibility report.
