Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 17: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flagged off eight trains from various parts of the country to Kevadiya Colony in Gujarat to facilitate tourist inflow to his dream project, the Statue of Unity (SoU), the world’s tallest statue dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated on the occasion three railway projects in Gujarat, the Dabhoi – Chandod Gauge converted Broad Gauge railway line, Chandod – Kevadiya new Broad Gauge railway line and newly electrified Pratapnagar – Kevadiya section. He also opened the new station buildings at Dabhoi, Chandod and Kevadiya railway stations. Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani and the Railways Minister Piyush Goyal were present on the occasion.
The eight trains flagged off included Kevadiya-Varanasi (Mahamana Weekly Express), Kevadiya-Dadar (Dadar Kevadiya Daily Express), Kevadiya-Ahmedabad (Janshatabdi Daily Express), Kevadiya-Hazrat Nizamuddin (Nizamuddin Kevadiya Sampark Kranti Bi Weekly Express), Kevadiya-Rewa (Kevadia Rewa Weekly Express), Kevadiya-Chennai (Chennai Kevadiya Weekly Express), Kevadiya-Pratapnagar (MEMU Daily) and Pratapnagar-Kevadiya (MEMU Daily).
Addressing through video conferencing, Modi said, “In the history of Indian Railways, for the first time, so many trains from various corners of the country have been flagged off for one destination. After all, Kevadiya is a place that has its identity with someone who has united the country and given the message of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’. Today’s function resonates the vision of the Indian Railways and the mission of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Pointing out that among the eight trains one was originating from the erstwhile Chennai central railway station which had been renamed as MG Ramachandran Central Railway Station after the former Tamil Nadu chief minister and Tamil film icon M G Ramachandran whose birth anniversary also fell today, Modi paid rich tributes to his memory. At the event, Modi said that rail connectivity to Kevadiya will not only provide comfort to tourists but also benefit the local tribal population of Kevadiya town. He also spoke about Kevadiya being developed as a world-class family tourist destination.
“The rail connectivity will not only bring comfort to the tourists but also change the lives of the Adivasi people of Kevadiya as it will create opportunities of employment and encourage self-employment. The rail lines will also connect to places such as Karnali Ghat, Poicha and Garudeshwar near Narmada and the entire area is filled with spiritual vibration,” he said.
Modi said while the number of daily tourists to see the SoU had already surpassed the visitors to the Statue of Liberty in the United States and the daily inflow was expected to increase to over one lakh tourists as the connectivity to Kevadiya and other infrastructure facilities further improved. Pointing out that more than 50 Lakh tourists have visited Kevadiya since the installation of the SoU, Modi said, “Today, Kevadiya has emerged as an example of how both development of ecology and economy can be done in a planned manner,” he said.
The Prime Minister dwelled at length on the transformation of Indian Railways through goal-centric effort. He said that apart from traditional role of passenger and goods transportation, railways is giving direct connectivity to places of tourism and religious importance. He said many routes including Ahmedabad- Kevadiya Janshatabdi will have attractive ‘Vista-Dome Coaches’
The Prime Minister also outlined the change in approach for developing railway infrastructure. He said that earlier focus was limited to keeping the existing infrastructure running and there was little attention on new thinking or new technology. It was imperative to change this approach. In the recent years, work was done on comprehensive transformation of entire railway system.
Modi said like Kevadiya where the railways completed works in record time, the dedicated freight corridor was another example of makeover of the Indian Railways. He claimed that from 2006 to 2014, work was done only on paper in the dedicated freight corridor project and not a single kilometre of track was laid. However since his government came to power six years ago, 1100 km track is going to be completed. “Today, with the modernisation of rail network, such places in the country was being connected to rails, which wasn’t the case earlier. Old railway tracks are being electrified and it is due to these efforts that it is possible to run semi-high speed trains in India today.”
The Prime Minister also pointed out that it was being ensured that railways remains environment -friendly. Kevadiya Station is India’s first railway station to start with green building certification.
He also stressed the importance of aatmnirbharta in railway related manufacturing and technology which is yielding good results now. It was due to local manufacturing of high horse power electric locomotive that India could launch the world’s first double stacked long haul container train. Today a series of indigenously manufactured modern trains are part of Indian Railways, Said the Prime Minister.
Besides Goyal and Rupani, the event was also attended through video conferencing by the Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, the chief ministers of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray, Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath and of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan among others.