Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the previous governments did not take up connectivity to the northeast as a priority.
Guwahati. Connectivity to the Northeast has increased manifold in the last nine years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as he virtually flagged off the region’s first Vande Bharat Express linking Assam’s Guwahati with West Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri.
Hitting out at the previous governments for ignoring connectivity to the Northeast, Modi said: “Connectivity to the Northeast was not considered as a priority by previous governments at the Centre. But that has changed in the past nine years (of Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule at the Centre), and connectivity in all sectors, including railways, has increased manifold.”
The Vande Bharat Express, which is expected to boost tourism, will operate six days a week (except Tuesdays) and will cut down the travel time between Guwahati and New Jalpaiguri – a distance of around 407 km – by one hour. The journey will be completed in 5 hours, 30 minutes.
Modi said there has been a four-fold rise in the railway budget for the Northeast under the BJP-led central government. “Prior to 2014, the annual railway budget for the Northeast used to be around ₹2,500 crore. But it has now increased to nearly ₹10,000 crore, which is a four-fold rise,” he said.
Taking note of the Prime Minister’s remark, the Congress said that “it is common for him to blame the party for everything”.
“But he shouldn’t forget that the Saraighat Bridge over the Brahmaputra, which the Vande Bharat Express will cross to reach Guwahati, was constructed six decades ago when the Congress was at the Centre. Even the Rajdhani Express train, which connects Guwahati to New Delhi in just 28 hours, was introduced during Congress rule,” Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said.
During his address, the Prime Minister also said the railway network across the country has expanded over the last nine years and added that all state capitals will soon be connected by trains.
He also inaugurated a diesel-electric multiple/mainline electric mainline unit (DEMU/MEMU) shed at Lumding in the state and 182 km of newly electrified railway lines for pollution-free transportation at higher speeds