Title - Chief Minister leaves for New Delhi today

To meet 21 Ministers to press for State’s demands. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has charted out a two-day visit to New Delhi from March 4 during which he is scheduled to hold discussions with 21 Central Ministers to press for various demands of the State, besides highlighting the raw deal that Kerala got in the Union Railway Budget 2013-14.The Chief Minister, accompanied by several Ministers and officials, will leave for Delhi on Sunday.The main thrust of his visit would be on railway development. The highlight of the demand for railway development would be the formation of a peninsular zone comprising Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions and Konkan Railway. The Chief Minister is expected to put pressure on the Union Railway Minister to start work on the coach factories at Palakkad and Alappuzha in this financial year itself. He would also want the Railway Ministry to establish facilities for overhauling of rail coaches, improvement of the MEMU services, doubling of railway lines, besides seeking the fulfilment of the budget promise to upgrade Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Ernakulam railway stations to international standards. He is also expected to hold discussions with the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to seek exemption for petroleum products and lotteries from the purview of the proposed Goods and Services Tax regime.