NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Opposition parties for making tall claims about development, saying that previous governments were too consumed with corruption and dynastic politics to understand the value of infrastructure.
The Prime Minister was speaking after flagging off the inaugural run of Vande Bharat Express from Dehradun to Delhi via video conferencing. He also dedicated to the nation newly-electrified rail sections and declared Uttarakhand a 100 per cent electric traction state. “The India of the 21st century can scale further heights of development by maximising the potential of infrastructure,” the Prime Minister said.
“Even though huge promises were made by the previous governments regarding high-speed trains in India, they even failed to get rid of unmanned gates from the rail network, while the state of electrification of rail lines was even worse,” Modi observed.
The PM underlined that the work to implement the dream of the country’s first high-speed train began in full swing while also preparing the whole network for semi-high-speed trains.
He said that 600 km of rail lines were electrified every year on average before 2014 whereas 6,000 kilometres of railway lines are being electrified every year today. “Today, more than 90 per cent of the country’s railway network has been electrified. In Uttarakhand, 100 per cent electrification of the entire rail network has been achieved,” he said.
The PM credited the development work to the right intention, policy and dedication. Underlining that the boost in the railway budget in comparison to 2014 has directly benefited Uttarakhand, he informed the audience that five years before 2014, the average budget for the state was less than Rs 200 crore whereas today the rail budget is Rs 5,000 crore, a 25 fold increase.
