Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday spoke about a bullet train project for West Bengal, claiming the proposed corridor would connect Delhi and Siliguri via Lucknow, Varanasi and Patna. Addressing a public gathering at the state Secretariat Nabanna in Kolkata, the Railway Minister claimed it will just take six hours to reach New Delhi from Siliguri to New Delhi.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Chief Secretary Manoj Agrawal were also present at the event.
"After the new government came to power, CM Suvendu Adhikari has been very categorical in telling officers that they have to cooperate with the central government for each and every project. About 100+ projects have not been onboarded in West Bengal," said Agrawal.
TMC Government Worsened Centre-State Relationship
Vaishnaw claimed that the previous government had worsened the centre-state relationship. Nearly 11 crore people in West Bengal have been deprived of the benefits of the railway sector that has significantly improved under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union Minister Ashwini has committed Rs 1 lakh crore for the development of the railway sector in West Bengal, and we will soon start work on a war footing.
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"The way we have given land to the Border Security Force (BSF) for fencing the Indo-Bangladesh border, the same way we will give land to the Railway Board to complete all the pending railway projects in West Bengal," said Adhikari.
Next Gen Metro Will Be Launched
The Railway Minister said West Bengal received Vande Bharat Sleeper and Amrit Bharat trains before many other states and added that more projects would be announced in the future.
He also said 45 km of metro lines have been completed in Kolkata under the Modi government.
“In 42 years, only 28 kilometres of metro work had been completed when an opposition government was in power here. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, 45 kilometres of metro lines have been completed in Kolkata," Vaishnow said.
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Vaishnaw announced that 60 next-generation metro rakes would be introduced in Kolkata over the next five years.