Andhra Pradesh Congress Vijayawada committee urged the government to take people’s view about the alignment of the project before proceeding on the Vijayawada Metro Rail (VMR) hastily.

City Congress committee president and former MLA Malladi Vishnu and senior leader Kolanukonda Sivaji today felt that the route of the VMR was not a well-thought out decision.

Without taking public into confidence, the state government was going ahead with the project which ultimately would make the project nonviable, they said. ” Congress is not opposed to the Metro Rail in Vijayawada. It was clearly mentioned in the AP reorganization Act. But, how far it is correct to take up the project without conducting the social impact study and public hearing,” they asked.

Stating that the project was expected to cause large scale demolitions to make way for the metro rail line, Vishnu reminded how the road widening project taken up by Naidu in 2002, when he was chief minister, played havoc with the lives of people. He said thousands of families lost their homes then and VMR should not end up causing miseries to the poor of Vijayawada. ” The metro routes from Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Bus Stand to Penamaluru and from Pt JN Bus Stop to Nidamanuru have been selected unilaterally and without calling for the opinions of the people,” he said.

The Congress leaders announced that the party is going to stage a dharna before sub-collectors office in protest against these issue along with farmers’ suicides and attack on APPCC president Raghuvira Reddy in Kuppam by TDP workers on Monday.