File Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi.(Agence France-Presse)
Describing Railways as the backbone of the nation's growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the Centre's endeavour was to connect every town in the country with rail link.
"The Railways is the backbone of the nation's growth and for its development, the government has planned to develop it and desires to provide rail link with every town," Mr Modi said.
Inaugurating Hazaribagh town railway station and then flagging off Hazaribagh-Koderma DMU, Mr Modi said at a public meeting that the Railways play a significant role in both economic growth and development of the country.
Mr Modi, who had the distinction of flagging off a train in Hazaribagh that saw its first train in the history of the railways, stated that Jharkhand possessed rich mineral resources and railway network in the entire Jharkhand could help transport the minerals through tracks.
The Centre signed fresh MoUs with the government of Jharkhand to complete six major railway projects, including that of the Koderma-Hazaribagh-Ranchi rail project at the earliest, he said.
These projects would be completed by March 2017 and both Centre and state would provide funds on fifty-fifty basis, Mr Modi said.
Comparing Jharkhand with Australia for having the same type of natural resources, he said once natural resources of Jharkhand were utilized properly, the state would become the most developed one in the country.
"We are going to develop with the latest and modern technology and provide all amenities to passengers travelling by the trains. By modernizing railways, we want to open more employment avenues for the unemployed," Mr Modi said.
Thanking farmers of Hazaribagh for providing land for the construction of 79.7-km Hazaribagh-Koderma railway line of the East Central Railways, he also praised former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha for striving hard right from the days of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.