Union Tourism Minister G. Kishan Reddy flagged off the Mahabubnagar - Visakhapatnam Express in Mahabubnagar, along with Excise Minister V. Srinivas Goud, on Saturday.
Mr. Reddy said that the doubling line was dedicated to the nation, and that he had spoken to the Union Railway Minister about the request for a stop here for Sampoorna Kranti Express. He also said that MMTS needed to be extended in Telangana.
The Union government has been focusing on improvement of rail infrastructure and connectivity across the country, he said.
“We have three railway stations, Kachiguda, Secunderabad and Nampally, in Hyderabad. Now, we are developing Charlapally as a mega terminal. Also, Secunderabad railway station is being developed. We are focusing on infrastructure and connectivity, be it railways, roads, air or wifi. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will be coming here in July to lay the foundation for several national highway projects,” said Mr. Reddy.
Stating that some more railway projects would come to Telangana, he said that land acquisition has been a problem and he was ready to speed up the projects, provided land issues were addressed by the State government.
Fertilizer subsidy
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Mr. Reddy said that the Central government has been offering a subsidy of ₹18,540 per acre for each farmer every year. This is in addition to the crop insurance being offered by the Centre. He said that the Union government has already released another ₹1 lakh crore recently as fertilizer subsidy.
Lashing out at Chief Minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the Union Minister asked as to what happened to the promise of ₹10,000 per acre to farmers who lost their crops due to heavy rains. The Chief Minister had enough time to visit Nanded but did not get time to address the problems faced by farmers in Telangana, he said.
