Injustice to AP in Railway Budget: Modi Govt’s Numbers Jugglery

In reply to the questions asked by Andhra Pradesh MPs, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in his reply said that works are going on at an estimated cost of 24,365 Crore for Sixteen Railway lines extending to 1,917 Kilometers.

This includes the Macherla – Nalgonda line of 1997 to the Vijayawada – Amaravati line of 2017. Nine of these railway projects have stopped long ago due to various reasons. 10,000 Crore worth 753 Kilometers of lines were completely scrapped.

This also includes Vijayawada – Amaravati line in which the State Government is not interested in obvious reasons. Some of these scrapped projects were stopped because they are not financially viable and for some projects, the state government has refused to share the expenses.

The minister also refused to commit to the timeline for the completion of these projects. He simply said that the completion will depend on various factors and so, no timeline can be committed. That indicates the seriousness of the center in regards to Andhra Pradesh.