Hazaribagh, literally a town with thousand gardens, entered into the country’s railway map on Friday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation new 79-km railway line between Koderma and Hazaribagh and flagged off the Demu services between the two stations. Modi, addressing a public function thereafter, turned it into a ‘thanks giving’ exercise for back-to-back thumping victories coming from Jharkhand when he recalled the promises made in the run-up of general elections.
The PM in his speech mentioned about the windfall gains Jharkhand has got from the coal block auctions continuing at present besides new rail projects to exploit the State’s natural wealth in the larger interest of the people. Taking a jibe at the erstwhile Government and its way of functioning, Modi underlined the quantum of corruption having taken place. “The Supreme Court had cancelled 204 coal blocks citing irregularities in their allocations. 40 of those belong to Jharkhand. But those who had mocked the CAG figure of Rs1,76,000 crore of loss to the exchequer have no remorse for the sin even now. They kept coming with ‘zero loss theory.’
The new Government has started the auctioning process and only two coal blocks of Jharkhand till now have fetched Rs12,500 crore. I had promised you to pay back with interest if came to power. Did I do that or not,” asked the PM to an impressive crowed gathered at Hazaribagh on the occasion. He expressed hope that that figure nationally would go way ahead of the CAG’s calculations. Out of 204 coal blocks, the Centre has been able to auction just 15 of them and collected whopping Rs75,000 crore.
Modi also stressed over proper rail and road connectivity across the State so that the mineral wealth from here can get good value into the market and also appealed farmers to support the endeavour by making available their land. “I should thank the farmers who have given their lands for building the rail line. They have done a great service to their next generation. I would again appeal to you to extend similar gesture for other infrastructure projects so that potential of Jharkhand which is not less than Australia can be tapped for the welfare of the common man.”
The rail line took 16 long years to complete which escalated its costs many fold and Modi blamed previous Governments for this. “Rail is not just a medium of transportation. Previous Governments could not understand the importance of rail and were just busy in announcing new trains and stopping those here and there. A town like Hazaribagh waited for 60 years to get a rail line. This makes it clear that earlier development was taking place at what pace, in which direction and for whom. I do not want to disclose it here,” added the Prime Minister during his half an hour address.
Expressing regret for unable to attend the oath taking ceremony of the BJP Government after Assembly polls, Modi said he would ensure that it works for taking Jharkhand to new heights and betterment of the poor can be done who have equal rights over resources. “Poor people need to be provided tools for development like education, electricity, employment in their hands. They would make way of their own,” he said.
Also present on the occasion was Chief Minister Raghubar Das who mentioned about NTPC’s endeavour to take over PTPS with Rs25,000 crore of investment. “This would complete the renovation work at Patratu in 3-4 years and the plant would be able to generate 400 MW of power. I also see locations like lohardaga, latehar, Giridih, Dumka etc to be connected through rail network,” Das said.
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu assured that the line would also be linked with Ranchi and underlined the importance of rail in using mineral wealth of the State. “We would try to take this line up to Ranchi in one year time. The Ministry is working to expedite other projects continuing here.” Ex-MP of Hazaribagh Yashwant Singh recalled his association and his dream about the rail line but also termed the delay having taken place as unfortunate. Governor Syed Ahmed, Minister of State for Railway Manoj Sinha, MoS for Finance Jayant Sinha and junior Rural development minister Sudarshan Bhagat were also present on the occasion.