VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu met top central leaders and ministers in New Delhi on Tuesday and sought funding and their support for various state projects. He also congratulated the BJP for its assembly election win in Haryana.Naidu, on a visit to Delhi in the last two days, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and explained to him the Swarnandhra Vision 2047 document. He also met heavy industries minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, roads minister Nitin Gadkari, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and sought their help in the redevelopment of Andhra Pradesh.Addressing the media on Tuesday night, Naidu said that he explained to the PM about the difficult financial situation of the state and pleaded for release of sufficient funds. “I sought the release of World Bank funds to Amaravati at the earliest. Amaravati constructions will restart in December.”The CM said the foundation stone for the Visakha railway zone works would be laid soon. He urged the Prime Minister to complete the pending NH works in the state.He said, “I have requested the Railway minister to lay four lines in traffic-congested rail routes. We sought a railway line from Amaravati to Vijayawada. We want to connect the railway line from Machilipatnam to Repalle. Also, need for the Narasapuram-Machilipatnam and the Repalle-Bapatla lines have been stressed.”The CM also pleaded for a bullet train to connect four important cities in south India –Hyderabad, Amaravati, Chennai, Bangalore– and that the work on this be started in 2027.“We urged the Centre to set up an IT literacy and digital hub and a data centre in AP. We will encourage start-ups that come with the help of AI. There is a plan to establish a Civil Aviation University. An Express highway from Hyderabad to Machilipatnam has also been proposed,” Naidu stated.Naidu said that during his meeting with Nitin Gadkari, they discussed the development of the Vijayawada Eastern Bypass. The CM sought Gadkari’s support for the development of state highways through central grants, fast-tracking of the Kuppam-Hosur greenfield project, and development of the Mulapeta to Vizag greenfield coastal highway project.Naidu also urged the roads minister to end restrictions on the road to Bhogapuram airport, and remove the choke points by building elevated structures by integrating the Flyover and Metro.Another call to Delhi was for upgrading the Hyderabad-Vijayawada expressway from 4 to 8 lanes to address the high traffic and reduce accidents.Naidu sought the development of a greenfield express highway from Hyderabad to Amaravati and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) for the capital region of Amaravati. Gadkari promised to fast-track these projects.During the meeting with Piyush Goyal, the CM sought a Joint committee of the state, DPIIT and M/o Shipping to expedite land transfer for the development of projects in a defined timeframe; expedition of works for the development of Industrial parks by NICDIT and sectoral policies to attract investment.Naidu met steels minister Kumaraswamy and discussed the growth of the steel sector in Andhra Pradesh. He pleaded that the Centre identify ways to support RINL and ensure its sustainability of operations and effective capacity utilisation.Kumaraswamy promised Naidu to consider the revival of RINL and support for the industrial development of AP.In the meeting with Hardeep Puri, Naidu sought 65 lakh Deepam connections under the PM Ujjwala Yojana. He also urged the minister to expedite the grounding of BPCL Refinery in the state.Hardeep Singh promised to consider the state’s requests and provide appropriate support.
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