Amaravati, Oct 22 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Tuesday that the Railway Minister has given an assurance that the Ministry is ready to take up railway projects with Rs 72,000 crore in the state.

At a meeting, he directed officials to expedite and complete all the ongoing works on railway projects in the state at the earliest possible.

The Chief Minister chaired a meeting with officials of the Railway and the state government on land acquisition and ongoing railway line works. He focussed on the progress of all the ongoing work.

Asking for details as to why certain works were getting delayed, the Chief Minister made various suggestions for their early completion.

Expressing concern that all the projects did not move forward due to the policies adopted by the previous government, the Chief Minister told the officials to immediately initiate steps to complete all such projects on time and said that all the necessary measures will be taken to resolve the issues coming in the way of land acquisition.

The Chief Minister decided to form a task force with officials from the Railway, Revenue and Roads and Buildings (R&B) for the early completion of the projects and to resolve the issues pertaining to land acquisition.

He was particular in the Kotipalli-Narsapur railway line be completed within four months. Chandrababu gave his consent to immediately release Rs 20 crore for acquiring 11 acres on Nadikudi-Srikalahasti railway line and ordered the officials to immediately take up the Sattupalli-Kovvur line after completing the land acquisition.

Chandrababu Naidu was of the opinion that a decision should be taken on Kadapa-Bengaluru railway line after detailed discussion, since there are some changes made to its alignment and said that all the ongoing railway project works should be completed in three years while the doubling works should be over in four years.

Better results can be achieved if the project works are completed by interlinking the road, rail and air networks, he felt.

/IANS