Once again AP gets nothing from the rail budget.

Why has Andhra Pradesh been left out by successive railway ministers? Whether it's a Congress government or a non-Congress government, it appears AP is always the loser.

CJ: V GOPALA KRISHNA MURTHY

Fri, Jul 03, 2009 18:23:54 IST

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New Rail Budget :

ONCE AGAIN Andhra Pradesh has been handed a raw deal in the railway budget. As long as the people of the state have no minister of cabinet for railways, it will be impossible for the state to get anything special. The state has been overlooked by the railways in the sanctioning of new projects and trains. In the last government. Lalu Prasad Yadav felt India was Bihar and on the same lines the present minister Mamata Banerjee has treated West Bengal with special importance.

It is a very embarrassing situation for states in Southern India - particularly an important state like Andhra Pradesh. Pick anything - whether urban development, infrastructural facilities or railways, Andhra Pradesh state stands last when it comes to receiving facilities. It has to depend on itself to develop resources.

This time the people of Andhra were confident of getting at least some projects like new railway lines and one or two small projects. Surprisingly, Chief Minister YSR Reddy’s proposed railway line for his own district was not included in the budget. The former railway minister's announcement for the station at Secundrabad to be converted into a world-class station, has been announced again by the same minister. In addition, this time's budget made a mention of Tirupati.

One of the nation’s busiest railway junctions, Vijayawada, has not been included at all. I think they feel the northern stations are more important than the southern stations. The state has not received any of the 12 non-stop expresses that had been previously announced. There was no mention of merging Visakhapatnam division with South Central Railway.

Over the last two decades, the people of Andhra would protest about the railway budgets. Even when the NDA government was supported by numbers from Andhra, the state demanded no ministries and yet gained no specific benefit from the budget. In the previous government, Andhra played a key role in government-formation and once again received next to no real benefit.

The present UPA government is also riding high on support from the state that accounts for 33 Congress MPs. The discrimination against the state of Andhra Pradesh must be explained.

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