New Delhi (IANS) | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday flagged off Rajasthan’s first Vande Bharat Express train. Inaugurating the train between Ajmer and Delhi Cantonment through video conferencing, the Prime Minister expressed regret that an important and basic need like Railways was being mired in the political arena for a long time.
PM Modi said, at the time of independence, India had inherited a very large railway network, but in the years after independence, political interests prevailed over the need for modernisation.
Politics was clearly visible in the selection of Railway Minister, announcement of trains and even recruitment. Land was acquired on the pretext of jobs in Railways and many unmanned level crossings continued for a very long time and cleanliness and safety were not taken care of.
He pointed to the land-for-job scam in which former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members are being probed.
Modi said the situation improved after 2014 when people elected a stable government with full majority, when the pressure of political transactions eased, Railways heaved a sigh of relief and reached new heights.
This is the sixth Vande Bharat train flagged off by the Prime Minister in the last two months. Incidentally, all the three trains namely Ajmer-Delhi Cantonment Vande Bharat Express, Rani Kamlapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express and Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express- cater to the three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana respectively. Assembly elections are due in all the three states later this year.
Meanwhile, Modi remarked that the rail budget for Rajasthan has been increased 14 times since 2014, from Rs 700 crore in 2014 to over Rs 9,500 crore this year. Addressing the gathering, PM Modi congratulated the land of bravery Rajasthan for getting its first Vande Bharat train.
–IANS
