Money saved of scams being used to lay rail lines in new areas of J&K, North East: PM Modi

Jammu, Feb 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday, in an oblique dig at previous regimes, said that money saved, due to absence of scams in his dispensation in the past ten years, was being used to lay railway lines to new areas from Jammu and Kashmir to the Northeast and on 2500 km dedicated freight corridor.

He stated this while virtually laying the foundation stone of the redevelopment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi (SMVD) Katra Railway station under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, virtually, from New Delhi. He also laid the foundation stone of a project for an overbridge at Vijaypur Railway Station in Samba district. The Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw too joined the function via video-conferencing.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha attended the event virtually from Raj Bhawan Jammu; Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and MP Jugal Kishore Sharma were present at Katra and Vijaypur Railway Stations respectively.

These J&K projects were part of ‘Viksit Bharat Viksit Railways’ event witnessed at over 500 railway stations and 1500 other venues where the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone and inaugurated and dedicated to the nation around 2000 railway infrastructure projects worth more than Rs 41,000 Cr via video conferencing.

The 553 railway stations chosen for redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme are spread across 27 States and Union Territories, including J&K. These will be redeveloped at a cost of over Rs 19,000 Cr.

As part of today’s endeavour, besides Katra station, three other stations of J&K, namely Udhampur, Jammu and Budgam railway stations will also be redeveloped as Amrit Stations. Among the four, three are in Jammu region.

These Amrit Bharat stations will act as ‘City Centres’ integrating both sides of the city. They will have modern passenger amenities like roof plaza, beautiful landscaping, inter modal connectivity, improved modern façade, kids play area, kiosks, food courts, etc. They will be redeveloped as environment friendly and also Divyang friendly. The design of these station buildings will be inspired by local culture, heritage and architecture.

Besides, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone, inaugurated and dedicated to the nation 1500 Road Over Bridges and Underpasses. One of them costing Rs 49 Cr will be in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir at Vijaypur. These Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and underpasses spread across 24 States and Union Territories, the total cost of these projects is around Rs 21,520 Cr. These projects will reduce congestion, enhance safety and connectivity, improve capacity, and efficiency of rail travel.

While addressing on this occasion, the Prime Minister said that these works would further “Ease of Living” for people in the country.

He said, “Today’s programme is a symbol of the new work culture of New India. Whatever India does today, it does it on an unprecedented speed and scale. We dream big and work tirelessly to realize them. This resolve is visible in this Viksit Bharat Viksit Railway programme.”

Referring to his Jammu and Gujarat events during the last few days from where he launched massive expansion of education and health sector infrastructure, he said, “Similarly, today also, over 550 stations spread over 300 districts of different states and UTs are being revamped.”

Specially congratulating the Yuva Shakti of India for today’s development projects, the Prime Minister described them as “the real beneficiaries of Viksit Bharat.” He said, “The development projects of today will create employment and self-employment opportunities for lakhs of youth, while also benefit those studying in schools. Youth have the main right to decide how Viksit Bharat will unfold.” He expressed gratitude towards the youth for bringing the dreams of railways in Viksit Bharat to reality through various competitions and also congratulated the winners.

He assured the youth that their dreams and hard work along with the Prime Minister’s resolve would be the guarantee of Viksit Bharat and expressed happiness that the upcoming Amrit Bharat Stations would be symbols of both “Vikas” and “Virasat.”

Prime Minister Modi reiterated the creation of a Viksit Bharat in the last 10 years, especially in railways where the change was apparent. He observed that in the last 10 years, facilities which were once far-fetched had become a reality at present. In this connection, he cited the examples of modernized semi high-speed trains like Vande Bharat, Amrit Bharat, NaMo Bharat, the fast pace of electrification of rail lines, and cleanliness inside trains and on the station platforms.

He drew a comparison on how unmanned gates were commonplace in Indian Railways whereas overbridges and underbridges ensured uninterrupted and accident-free movement today. He also mentioned that modern facilities similar to those in airports were being made available to the poor and middle class at the railway stations.

“Today’s Railway is becoming a mainstay of ease of travel for the citizens. As the economy jumps to 5th place in global ranking from 11th, there is a massive increase in the railway budget from Rs 45,000 Cr 10 years ago to Rs 2.5 lakh Cr today. Just imagine how much our strength will increase when we become the third largest economic superpower in the world. Therefore, Modi is working hard to make India the third largest economy in the world as soon as possible,” he said.