Mumbai: Just ahead of the announcement of the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha election, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal dedicated various services and amenities to rail commuters on Sunday.
Addressing the inauguration function of dedication of Parel terminus to commuters at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Goyal said more work was done in the last five years, than in last 50 years.
“320 FOBs were built on Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) in 160 years (1853 to 2014) while 129 FOBs were built since April 2014 (in the last five years) and the works of 131 FOBs has been undertaken. Thus, 260 FOBs would be constructed in six years. A hundred and eighty escalators have been approved for suburban stations in Mumbai, “ he said.
He said, “Around 650 km electrification was carried out of the Indian Railways (IR) till 2013-14, 4,000 Km electrification was done till 2018. It would reach 6,000 km by March 2019. It means that electrification pace has increased ten times.”
“There were only three lifts in CR and WR and 78 lifts have come up till now. Work is going on for 16 lifts’ installation. 170 lifts would be installed in upcoming days,” he said.
Goyal did not leave the opportunity to bring the issue of martyrs. He said two CRPF jawans from Maharashtra’s Buldhana district Nitin Shivaji Rathod and Sanjay Rajput made the supreme sacrifice for the country. But the leadership of the country is strong and decisive to give a befitting reply.
“It has been learnt that the terrorist organisations have been attacked in Pakistan. Pakistan has realised that if it would not control the terrorism, India would not leave them (Pakistan). The leaders of India and people are ready to give befitting reply to the terrorism,” he said.
It seems Railway programme has been converted into an election campaign programme for the BJP by the Railway Minister.
