Prime Minister should announce probable date for functioning of Visakhapatnam rail zone, says CPI | So Good News

Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary JV Satyanarayana Murthy has said that merely laying the foundation stone of the South Coast Railway (SC o R) zone in Visakhapatnam is not sufficient to instill confidence among people and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should announce a likely date for the function.

The Prime Minister had announced the zone at a public meeting held before the 2019 general elections. An Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) was appointed and the proposal given by him for construction of the zone headquarters was pending for over a year now. , Mr. Murthy told a media conference here on Monday.

Referring to the statements of BJP leaders that the Prime Minister would lay the foundation stone for the construction of the zonal headquarters during his visit to the city on November 12, he sought that a date be given for the functioning of the zone. He wondered if the Railway Station Redevelopment Project was meant to hand over the station to private players. The prime minister should promise the people that the railway stations would continue in the public sector, said the CPI leader.

“Privatization of steel mills”

Demanding reversal of the decision to 100% privatization of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), Mr Murthy said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy should extract a promise from the Center that VSP would be continued in the public sector. While acknowledging the efforts of the state government in the matter, such as passing the resolution in the assembly and sending it to the center and the chief minister who held discussions with the unions on the matter, he said more concrete steps were needed to stop the privatisation. of VSP.

He said the CPI was against the merger of VSP in SAIL as recommended by the state BJP leaders. The plant should be continued as it is and captive mines should be allocated. He also sought release of funds for the Polavaram project, implementation of special package for North Andhra and Rayalaseema districts, funds for the tribal university and implementation of other promises made in the AP Reorganization Act, 2014.

CPI leaders M. Pydiraju and A. Vimala were present.