Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of Rs 85,000 crore railway projects, including the launch of 10 new Vande Bharat trains. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, CM Bhupendra Patel and state BJP chief CR Paatil were also present during the event.
The PM launched the projects from Sabarmati area of Ahmedabad in Gujarat after visiting the Dedicated Freight Corridor's (DFC) Operation Control Centre here. While addressing the public in Ahmedabad, Modi said, "I started my life on railway tracks, so I know how bad our railways were earlier. In last 10 years, my government spent around six times more amount for development of railways than was done earlier."
"India is a young country, a large young population resides here. I would like to tell the youth that the today inaugurations that happened today are for your present. The foundation stone layings that happened today have come with the guarantee of your bright future. The governments that came after independence gave priority to political selfishness," the PM added.
"I discontinued separate railway budget and included it in Union budget so that govt money can be used for railway development. Unlike some others, development work for us is not for winning elections but for progress of the nation," PM Modi further said.
The PM flagged off 10 new Vande Bharat trains between Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, Mysuru-Dr MGR Central (Chennai), Patna- Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri-Patna, Puri-Visakhapatnam, Lucknow-Dehradun, Kalaburagi-Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru, Ranchi-Varanasi and Khajuraho- Delhi (Nizamuddin).
Modi also flagged off the extension of four Vande Bharat trains. The Ahmedabad-Jamnagar Vande Bharat train is being extended till Dwarka, Ajmer-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Vande Bharat till Chandigarh, Gorakhpur-Lucknow Vande Bharat till Prayagraj and Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod Vande Bharat till Mangaluru, The PM even flagged off two new passenger trains between Asansol and Hatia & Tirupati and Kollam stations.
He dedicated 50 Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras at various railway stations. These centres will offer affordable and quality generic medicines to the people. The PM also dedicated to the nation 51 Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminals, which will promote seamless movement of goods between different modes of transportation.
