Telangana MPs to SCR: move the tracks
At Rail Nilayam, MPs from Telangana pressed South Central Railway on Kazipet, Bhadrachalam and stalled works. The BJP-led Centre was told to stop dragging its feet; the file-and-forget routine showed up again.
Telangana MPs renewed demands for progress on pending railway projects at Rail Nilayam.
Analysis — Telangana-first
Telangana MPs met South Central Railway officials at Rail Nilayam, Hyderabad, on Thursday, August 20, to push pending projects. The agenda: long-running demands — a stronger Kazipet hub, Bhadrachalam connectivity — and why works “sanctioned” still look like paperwork. That much is on the record via a report based on ANI; SCR has not published its minutes or replies yet.
Congress MP Balram Naik called the BJP-led Centre’s record “complete neglect” of Telangana’s railways and pointed to the discontinued Izzat concessional scheme as a hit to poor commuters. His charge is political; the specific cancellation order and rationale aren’t in the documents we’ve seen. What is on file: the Izzat scheme started as a Rs 25 monthly season ticket up to 100–150 km, not a three‑month pass.
BRS MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra repeated the obvious distinction Delhi keeps blurring: Kazipet did not get the long-promised coach factory; it has a “rail manufacturing unit”. The Railway Ministry’s own answer pegs the unit’s cost at Rs 521.36 crore with Rs 251.09 crore spent by December 2024. Money moved; the demand for a full-fledged hub and a dedicated Kazipet division remains.
Congress MP Vamsi Krishna Gaddam said Congress MPs secured sanctions adding up to nearly Rs 1,000 crore over five years, and “not one stone” has moved. That is his claim for now; the project-by-project ledger will settle it. What we do have are SCR meeting booklets listing Bhadrachalam Road–Kovvur and other links still at survey or abstract-cost stage, and East Coast Railway holding part of the Bhadrachalam–Malkangiri story. In other words, plenty of rail for passing the buck.
Telangana’s asks are not new, and they’re not extravagant: finish what you sanctioned, say what Kazipet really is, and stop treating Bhadrachalam as optional. The BJP-led Centre has had the budgets and the press releases. It can try a completion date next.