Tirupati Railway Station to be Expanded

Hyderabad, June 12 (INN): To develop the Tirupati Railway Station as 'World Class Railway Station', the Andhra Pradesh Government and South Central Railways have focussed their attention in taking up of works for expansion of Tirupati Railway Station to meet the requirements of pilgrims in the Temple Town, Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao said.

The Chief Secretary chaired a meeting on Friday with the officials of South Central Railways, Transport, Endowments Departments and District Collector Chittoor, to review on the progress of expansion of Tirupati Railway Station. Taking into consideration of increase in the inflows of the devotees, the works may be taken up for expansion of platforms etc., he said.

The Railway Officials informed that an amount of Rs.19.70 crores is deposited with the Collector, Chittoor District and the Collector is requested to expedite the process of the land acquisition and if possible after the publication of Detailed Notification and Detailed Declaration with the concerned and try to handover the possession of the land within three months.

The Chief Secretary has also reviewed on the issue of diversion of the existing Municipal drain in Tirupati. It was decided that in a planned way divert it to the farther most end of the land that is going to be acquired by the Railways. Railways have raised, even at the farther most end, still during rainy season it is likely to inundate the Railway yard. In this context Chief Secretary has suggested that one more joint inspection by the Municipal and Railways authorities to decide how best to go about to avoid this flooding by way of diversion of the drain. The Municipal Commissioner Tirupati has promised that the work will be completed within the stipulated period and Railways have agreed to pay the funds for diversion of the drain.

Krishna Rao has directed the Executive Officer, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams to handover possession of the land by taking prior permission of the High Court before actual formal handing over of the land to Railways and the Railways has agreed to pay the market value.

To sustain growth in the tourism sector in Andhra Pradesh and in view of the historical and religious importance of Temple Town, the Government is taking a series of steps for its development and to attract worldwide tourists by providing many facilities and amenities, Chief Secretary added.

Prl. Secretary Revenue J.S.V. Prasad, Prl. Secretary TR&B B. Sam Bob, TTD Executive Officer Sambasiva Rao, Dist. Collector Chittoor Siddharth Jain, Tirupati Municipal Commissioner V. Vinay Chand, South Central Railways Chief Engineer D.K. Singh, Guntakal Divisional Railway Manager Manoj Joshi and others attended the meeting.