Vizag MP candidate Daggubati Purandeswari shares her plans for the city

The poll fervour has certainly gripped Vizag. Trumpeting strength and seeking the voters’ confidence, candidates have been trying to put their best forward for the approaching electoral polls. BJP’s nominee for the Vizag Lok Sabha seat, Daggubati Purandeswari too, has been loud and clear on her mandate.

Having represented the constituency earlier in Lok Sabha from 2009-2014, the seasoned campaigner hopes to lead the city once again in the coming tenure. In an exclusive interview with Yo! Vizag, Daggubati Purandeswari shares her plans for Vizag.

Vizag MP candidate Daggubati Purandeswari shares her plans for the city:

What are your plans for developing the railway sector in Visakhapatnam?

“We have met the aspirations of the people by sanctioning railway zone to Visakhapatnam. Notably, the BJP government has launched 26 new train services during 2014-17 and railway projects worth close to Rs 48000 crores are already under execution in the state.

Going forward, a Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) would help in the generation of more jobs. In this regard, we plan to set up skill development centres across Visakhapatnam to equip the local candidates with the proficiencies required to bag the jobs that would be created.

Furthermore, the focus would be laid on enhancing the freight and passenger connectivity from the city. Addition of more goods wagons and improvement of the cargo holding capacity of the Visakhapatnam railway station are among the plans to strengthen the freight scene. The goal is to ensure that wagons are available on demand at any point of time for the trading industry.

On the other hand, high-speed trains (similar to Train 18, which was recently launched and can run at 160 kmph on existing railway tracks) would be launched to other prominent cities (especially Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Tirupati) to boost the passenger connectivity. I also plan to get more vistadome coaches to Araku in order to attract more tourists to the district.

In addition, the Simhachalam and Duvvada railway stations would be developed to facilitate the halts of high-speed trains. Also, I plan to greatly improve the passenger revenue of the zone, which currently stands at a mere 7%.”

Any plans for enhancing the air connectivity?

“When it comes to air travel, I look forward to connecting Visakhapatnam to Dubai by direct flights. This would require central government assistance and certain changes to bilateral treaties.

There is a need to improve domestic air connectivity as well. Adding more flights to cities like Mumbai, Delhi and other metros would facilitate connectivity to international destinations. Dedicated cargo planes would be launched from Visakhapatnam to domestic and internationall destinations to promote exports. I even plan to create a Parallel Taxi Track (PTT) to facilitate more flights at Visakhapatnam airport.”

Skilling the youth and providing suitable opportunities have been areas of concern. How do you plan to address these?

“As I mentioned before, we are planning to establish a world-class skill development university in Visakhapatnam. The university would offer services free of cost and train the youth in a variety of skills to make them job-ready. Also, a large portion of jobs at Andhra University and other government institutions lie vacant. Efforts would be made to fill in these positions and provide jobs to many unemployed individuals within the city.

To create more jobs, efforts would be made to develop the Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor. Currently, there are National Highway projects worth Rs 1 lakh crores in Andhra Pradesh. I’d like to quicken up the process of the expansion of the National Highways and the Sagarmala project.

The aquaculture and fisheries are the growth engines of Andhra Pradesh. We hope to double the export of marine products with the help of central government.

On the IT front, the central government is providing a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh under the BPO promotion scheme. Visakhapatnam has got the highest number of seats under the scheme and we hope to double the number of seats in the next term.

To promote the job and educational avenues in the pharma sector, I plan to establish get NIPER (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research) to Vizag.

Pollution has been on the rise. What are the measures you plan to tackle this?

“Pollution stands as one of the biggest problems in Vizag. I want to once again transform this city into a greener space that it was earlier known for. Taking a leaf out of Delhi’s measures, I plan to facilitate the introduction of electric and CNG-based buses to form a largely eco-friendly public transport fleet. I’ll also work towards getting the most advanced pollution control equipment for industrial clusters and public sector units would help us in achieving the zero emission norms. Besides, creation of greener spaces across the city is another pivotal area of focus.”

What are the main urban issues that you look forward to addressing?

“My aim has always been to make Vizag as one of the most liveable cities in India. However, there are a bunch of problems that need to be dealt with effectively to achieve this.

Lack of parking spaces is certainly one of the major issues being faced in the city right now. Visakhapatnam has 72 wards and having just one or two multi-level parking areas wouldn’t address the widely-prevalent parking woes. There is a need to get more funds through for the smart city project and allocate them for setting up at least 10-15 multi-level parking areas across the city. Creation of greener spaces, open-air gyms, and feasible housing facilities are the other key features that I plan to provide to the citizens here.”

Vizag holds great potential in the tourism sector. How do you plan to harness it?

“During my tenure earlier, I got Rs 50 crores sanctioned for the development of the beach front. This time too, I intend to bring in several torusim projects to Vizag and establish it as one of the prominent tourist hubs in the country. Apart from developing the beaches here, we would also concentrate on other areas such as eco-tourism, spiritual tourism, health tourism and education tourism to attract varied tourists from across the world. Newer avenues such as sports shall also be explored to fortify the tourist scene in the city.”

As an MP, how approachable would Daggubati Purandeswari and her team be to the people of Vizag?

“I stay in constant touch with different trade bodies from the city to know the various problems of the citizens. Besides, if someone is facing an issue, they can always make themselves heard at the MP office in the city and we would attend to it immediately.”