West Bengal also got the gift of third Vande Bharat Express today. This train will run from New Jalpaiguri station in North Bengal. After Howrah-New Jalpaiguri and Puri-Kolkata (Howrah) Vande Bharat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gifted the Guwahati-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat train to West Bengal. The Prime Minister digitally flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express of Northeast from Guwahati to New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
PM Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express
The Prime Minister flagged off the train from Guwahati station by showing a symbolic green flag on the screen. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Governor of Assam Gulab Chand Kataria and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma were present at Guwahati station. Prime Minister Modi said that Vande Bharat Express Northeast train will boost tourism, education, business and employment.
Connectivity service between Bengal and Assam will be strengthened
The semi high speed train between Guwahati and New Jalpaiguri (NJP) will strengthen the connectivity between Assam and West Bengal. The Prime Minister said the train will also boost tourism potential for Kamakhya Temple, Kaziranga and Manas National Parks and Pobitora in Assam as well as Shillong and Cherrapunji in Meghalaya and Tawang and Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.
9 years of extraordinary journey of development
He said the NDA government has completed nine years in office this week and the “last nine years have been an extraordinary journey of new development”. Modi said that the country has got a new and grand Parliament House on Sunday, which will link the country’s rich democratic heritage with modern democratic values. He said, there are many such achievements, which could not even be imagined before 2014.
Government has given top priority to poor welfare: Modi
PM Modi said that the BJP government laid the foundation for rapid development by providing houses, toilets, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure and gave top priority to the welfare of the poor. The Prime Minister said, ‘It is the infrastructural facilities that strengthen the poor, downtrodden and backward sections of the society. Infrastructure is for all without any discrimination, which reflects true social justice and secularism.
Unprecedented infrastructural development in Northeast in 9 years
He claimed that there has been unprecedented infrastructural development in the Northeast during the last nine years. PM Modi said that the people of the Northeast have paid a heavy price for the negligence in the past. He said that the region had to face many problems due to lack of rail, road and airport facilities. The expansion of rail connectivity in the region is an example of how phenomenal development can happen when development is done with the intention of serving the people.
PM said: Highest priority given to the development of Northeast
The Prime Minister also said that he has given top priority to the development of the region. He said that the budget allocation for the expansion of railways in the region has been increased by four times and work is on to connect all the state capitals of the North East with the rest of the country. Modi also mentioned that Guwahati railway station is the first station in the country to have a tea stall managed by a transgender person. He described this as a step towards giving dignity and respect to the hitherto neglected section of the society.
Vande Bharat: Bihar-Jharkhand is still waiting, Bengal got the gift of another Vande Bharat train
Some more gifts from Northeast
He said, ‘Today is a big day for Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal as well as for the entire Northeast in the field of rail connectivity.’ The state-of-the-art train will provide the people of the region a means of traveling in speed and comfort, apart from promoting tourism in the area. The Guwahati-Newjalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express will cover the journey in five hours 30 minutes, while the current fastest train on this route takes six hours 30 minutes to cover the same journey. The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation the newly electrified sections of the 182-km route and inaugurated the newly constructed DEMU/MEMU shed at Lumding in Assam.
