*Vizag Railway Zone without KK line will budern AP: KK Raju*

Visakhapatnam, May 5: YSRCP Visakhapatnam district president KK Raju strongly criticised the Centre and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, stating that the proposed Visakhapatnam Railway Zone without the Kottavalasa–Kirandul (KK) line is a serious setback and will become a burden on Andhra Pradesh. Addressing the media at the party city office in Visakhapatnam, he said that announcing a railway zone without the KK line is like “placing a lifeless body in one’s hands,” and accused the Centre of diluting the promise made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act while the state leadership remains silent. He alleged that the BJP government at the Centre is compromising Andhra Pradesh’s interests to strengthen its position in Odisha, and that Chandrababu Naidu has failed to respond due to political compulsions and misplaced priorities.

KK Raju said the exclusion of the 446-km KK line, which is a crucial freight corridor for transporting iron ore, manganese, and bauxite across Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh, will deprive the Vizag Railway Zone of its primary revenue source. He noted that the strong revenue base of the Waltair Division is largely due to the KK line, and without it, along with the exclusion of key tourism regions such as Araku and Koraput, the railway zone will lose both economic and strategic significance. He criticised the coalition leaders and MPs for celebrating the announcement by distributing sweets instead of protesting against what he termed a clear injustice to North Andhra.

He recalled that the Vizag Railway Zone was a long-standing aspiration of the people of North Andhra and was explicitly included in the AP Reorganisation Act. He pointed out that during the 2014 elections, leaders of the BJP, TDP, and Jana Sena—including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pawan Kalyan, and Chandrababu Naidu—had jointly promised at a public meeting in Visakhapatnam that the railway zone would be established if they came to power. However, despite being in power from 2014 to 2019, they failed to fulfil this commitment. He added that the YSRCP led several protests during that period, and only as a token measure did the Centre announce the railway zone just before the 2019 elections. After coming to power in 2019, the YSRCP government pursued the matter with the Centre and even facilitated land allocation for the zone, but developments after the 2024 change in government have left the people of North Andhra deeply disappointed.

KK Raju further alleged that due to Chandrababu Naidu’s inefficiency and self-serving policies, North Andhra, particularly Visakhapatnam, is being neglected, as the focus remains on Amaravati’s real estate interests at the cost of Vizag’s growth. He warned that the currently proposed railway zone, without the KK line, will bring no tangible benefits and could instead become a liability in the future. He also accused the government of handing over valuable lands in Visakhapatnam to benamis in the name of attracting investments, while no real industrial activity has materialised, noting that even companies that performed foundation ceremonies have not commenced operations.

He questioned the government’s claims of generating one lakh jobs, pointing out that despite announcements by IT Minister Nara Lokesh during the foundation laying of nine companies, not even a hundred jobs have been created so far. He said the lack of industrial progress exposes the gap between promises and delivery. KK Raju called for a united movement under YSRCP to demand a proper Vizag Railway Zone with the KK line included, and urged coalition leaders from North Andhra to join the fight if they are genuinely committed to the region’s development.