Injustice done to AP in Railway Budget, says TDP

Lamenting that injustice has been done to Andhra Pradesh in the railway budget yet again, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today lashed out at the Congress for increasing reservation fees, freight charges and levying fuel adjustment surcharge.

"Despite having over 30 Congress MPs and also the Minister of State for Railways from the state, AP has got little in the 2013-14 Railway Budget," TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu said. The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dadi Veerabhadra Rao decried the move to impose additional financial burden on passengers by enhancing reservation fees and levying of fuel adjustment surcharge.

"This is nothing but looting middle class people," Dadi said in a statement. Though AP has been generating Rs 7,000 crore revenue for the Railways, not even 10 per cent of it has been allotted to the state in the Budget, he pointed out. State minister for Information Technology Ponnala Lakshmaiah, in a separate statement, said that the new initiatives announced by the Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will benefit the IT and Telecom sectors.

"Provision of wi-fi facility on some trains, introduction of e-ticketing through mobile phones, SMS alerts on passenger reservation status and extension of Real Time Information System are some of the measures that will benefit IT and Telecom sectors," he said.