Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was inducted into the Union Cabinet of the Modi government during the reshuffle in 2021 has all along been making efforts for the development of railways and its network across the country while Odisha particularly has received the highest ever funds for the railway sector during his term, said Dillip Samataray, a former railway official from Odisha.
During an interaction with OTV minutes after Vaishnaw was named as the BJP nominee for Rajya Sabha, Samantaray was all praise for the Union Railway Minister.
He added, “For the first time the allocation in railways crossed Rs 10,000 crore for Odisha in 2022-23 and the modernisation work of 58 Railway stations in Odisha is underway. Work to make the Puri and Bhubaneswar Railway stations world-class was initiated during the term of Ashwini Vaishnaw.”
Also Read | ‘Vaishnaw for RS’ is Part of Larger Deal for Odisha Polls
“The work of the Angul-Sukinda and the Haridaspur-Paradeep railway lines has been completed while the much-awaited Khordha-Bolangir Railway line work was accelerated,” he pointed out, adding that rail service from Khorda side to Dasapalla and from the Bolangir side to Sonepur has been launched.
Moreover, two Vande Bharat Expresses carrying on their service from Odisha and 5G service has been launched along with the installation of a number of mobile towers in various parts of the state during the term of Ashwini Vaishnaw, he said.