New Delhi, Jul 11 (UNI) Minister of State for Railways Suresh C Angdai on Thursday said Indian Railways is the 'growth engine' for the progress of India and maintained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves all credit to give Indian Railways a new direction and mission.
Intervening during the debate on Demand for Grants for Railways, he said Prime Minister Modi united the whole country and 'thanked' him for merging Railway budget with the Union Budget saying that was certainly a visionary step.
There was no political will or capacity to work in the earlier UPA regime, he said and went onto say that Mr modi provided good administration and the much needed able leadership in taking railways achieve newer heights.
Expenditure for railways was Rs 2.3 lakh crore between 2099 to 2014, but was almost double at Rs 4.97 lakh cr during 2014 to 2019.
It was 1.6 lakh crore this year, he stated.
Railways is like a family, he maintained, adding that it is easy to blame but the government but everyone has their role in ensuring effective functioning of the Indian railways for the betterment of the country.
BJP's Sanjay Jaiswal, Sanjay Seth, Ram Charan Bohra and Vijay Kumar Dubey also spoke.
Vinayak Raut of Shiv Sena spoke about doubling of tracks under the Konkan Railway.
Ritesh Pandey of BSP was critical of the Budget and said - "Khoda lahar nikali chuhiya (much ado about nothing)".
He asked the government whether the expenditure of taxpayers' money will be appropriately spent.
UNI RSA-DEVN