Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Move to extend Godavari Express up to Bhubaneswar opposed

Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM: There is all-round opposition to the proposal of the Railway Ministry to extend the Godavari Express up to Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa.

The city unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called for immediately dropping the proposal which aimed to give a raw deal to people of Visakhapatnam. Secretary of the unit K. Lokanadham said failure to drop the move would trigger severe resentment from the public.

``In the past they extended Prasanthi Express to Orissa. Earlier, Visakha Express was extended up to Bhubaneswar and they merged the Waltair Division in East Coast Railway. Now we have only Godavari Express to claim. It will be unfair to extend Godavari Express also to Orissa to neglect the interests of this region. The people's representatives of north Andhra should make immediate all-out efforts to stop extending the train to Orissa,'' he said.

President of the Andhra Pradesh Passengers Association in Kakinada, S.S. Krishnaji, on Monday said the association stoutly opposed the move and would take up the issue and see that the Railway authorities drop the proposal.

Appeal to people

President of Praja Spandana C.S. Rao appealed to the public to send postcards to the Railway Minister protesting against the extension of Godavari Express. The people of north coastal Andhra were strongly opposed to the move, he said.

The recently elected MLA from Visakhapatnam-I Assembly constituency Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao announced that he had requested the Union Minister of State for Mines T. Subbarami Reddy and Visakhapatnam MP N. Janardhana Reddy to bring pressure on the Railway Ministry to drop the proposal immediately.

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