The local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have expressed confidence that the NDA government will concede the demand for the formation of a new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters.

At a press meet here on Sunday, BJP City Committee Secretary M Nagendra, State executive member PV Narayana Rao, and others said that though the technical committee set up to study the feasibility of formation of a new zone in AP had ruled it out, the Centre will take a political decision on the issue and honour the party’s election promise.

Replying to a question, they said there was no definite time-frame for the announcement of the new zone, but the decision would be taken soon.

Apart from the demand for special category status to the State, a new rail zone with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters is the second most important demand being voiced by the ruling Telugu Desam Party.

Nagendra and other leaders objected to what they described as ‘the malicious propaganda’ of the Telugu Desam Party after the recent break-up of the alliance and said there was no truth in the allegations of TDP leaders that the Centre had done virtually nothing for the State during the past four years.

They said the ground reality was totally different. “Both the IIM-Visakhapatnam and IIPE-Visakhapatnam are already functioning, Visakhapatnam airport has been developed to international standards and the capacity of the HPCL Visakha refinery is being doubled,” Nagendra said.

Several development works were being taken up in the public sector Visakhapatnam port and other PSUs like the Hindusthan Shipyard Limited, he said.

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