In a bid to ensure that the Andhra Pradesh employees working in Hyderabad comply with the orders of shifting their base to Vijayawada before June 27, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has secured a special train between the two cities.
Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu and Chandrababu Naidu will flag off the special train at the Vijayawada station on Monday. The special train named as “Amaravati Express” after the new under-construction Capital of AP, will have only one stop, making faster journey possible.
The Railway Ministry decided to introduce the special train on a representation from the Chief Minister to facilitate the movement of thousands of employees from Hyderabad to the make shift capital Vijayawada.
The move was being seen as another sop to the employees who were resisting the Government pressure to shift their base to the make shift capital of AP. 4500 employees were to shift to Vijayawada in the first phase, These employees were working from Hyderabad though the state was bifurcated two years ago and Chief Minister Naidu and several other Ministers had moved to the make shift capital.
The special train will leave Vijayawada at 5.30 pm and reach Hyderabad at 11 pm. On the return journey the train will leave Hyderabad at 5.30 am and reach the destination at 11 am.
Suresh Prabhu, who was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh, took a keen interest in Naidu's proposal for the special train. The demand for introducing such a train had come from Andhra Pradesh Secretariat Employees Association.
The special train is expected to help the employees not only in shifting to the temporary capital, but also undertaking journey between the two cities in futures as many of them were leaving their families behind in Hyderabad.
Unhappy with the dillydallying by the employees in shifting, the State Government recently issued a firm order setting a deadline of June 27 for making the move. Chief Minister rejected all the representation for extending the deadline.