Lamenting the lack of coordination among various agencies involved in infrastructure development in the past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said this had resulted in dissatisfaction among the honest tax-payers of the nation as they felt their hard-earned money was being used to fill the pockets of the corrupt rather than for the welfare of the poor.

This situation compelled the government to launch the PM Gati Shakti Plan to fill the gaps in the coordination among various agencies. “Be it different state governments, construction agencies, or industry experts, everyone is coming together on the Gati Shakti Platform,” he said.

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The PM added the Gati Shakti Plan was not only limited to conjoining different mediums of transport in the country but also providing pace to the multimodal projects. The construction of new airports, waterways, ports and roads was being carried out to ensure seamless connectivity for the citizens, he said.

The PM was flagging off the Vande Bharat Express, connecting Howrah to New Jalpaiguri via video conferencing. He also inaugurated the Joka-Taratala Stretch of the Joka-Esplanade Metro Project (Purple Line) and dedicated four railway projects to the nation, including Boinchi-Shaktigarh 3rd Line, Dankuni-Chandanpur 4th Line Project, Nimtita-New Farakka Double Line and Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri-Gumanihat Doubling Project. The PM also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, the PM apologised for not being physically present today, as for him, this is the day to bow to the land of Bengal since the history of the freedom struggle is infused in every particle of the state. “The land from where the call of Vande Matram originated, saw the flagging off of Vande Bharat today,” the PM said.

Linking reforms and development of Indian Railways with the progress of the country, he said this was why the central government was making record investments in the modern railway infrastructure. A nationwide campaign was going on to transform the Indian Railways, he said.

He listed modern trains like Vande Bharat, Tejas Hum Safar and VistaDome coaches and the modernisation of Railway Stations including New Jalpaiguri, doubling and electrification of Railway lines as examples of this modernisation. He also mentioned Eastern and Western dedicated freight corridors as projects that would bring revolutionary changes in the logistics sector.

The PM highlighted the strides made in the fields of Railway safety, cleanliness, coordination, capability, punctuality and facilities. He also emphasised that in the last eight years, Indian Railways worked on the foundation of modernity and the coming years would see it embarking on a new journey of modernization.

He pointed out that while 20000 route kilometre of rail lines were electrified in the first 70 years of Independence, more than 32000 route kilometres have been electrified since 2014. The PM said that the Metro Rail system was an example of India’s speed and scale today. “The Metro network which was less than 250 km before 2014 had the highest share in Delhi-NCR. In the last 7-8 years Metro has expanded to more than two dozen cities. Today Metro is running on an approximately 800 km long Metro track in different cities of the country. Work is going on on Metro routes of more than 1000 km”, he informed.

“We must make correct use of the potential of the nation to move forward in the 21st century”, the PM remarked. Highlighting the waterways in the country, he recalled the time when waterways were used on a large scale for work, business and tourism in India but were later destroyed during the years of slavery. He also pointed out the lack of efforts by the previous governments in reviving the waterways in the country. “India is working toward boosting its Jal Shakti today”, Modi said.

He informed that more than 100 waterways were being developed and work was also on to introduce advanced cruise ships in the rivers while boosting business and tourism. The PM also highlighted the Ganga-Brahmaputra project that was being carried out between India and Bangladesh to establish waterway links between the two rivers. Referring to the cruise that is going to set sail on 13 January 2023 from Kashi to Dibrugarh via Bangladesh, the PM informed that the 3200 km long journey would be the first of its kind in the entire world and would be a reflection of the growing cruise tourism in the country.