Manmad-Indore Rail Line: Congress accuses PM Modi of cheating

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Manmad-Indore Rail Line: Congress accuses PM Modi of cheating

PM Modi has laid the foundation stone of Dhule - Nardana railway line which is just 50 to 60 kms

Monday February 18, 2019 8:40 PM, ummid.com Staff Reporter

Malegaon: A day after Prime Minister Narendta Modi laid the foundation stone of the 362-km long Manmad-Indore Railway line, Congress accused him of cheating and called the event akin to former's promise of bringing back the black money, transferring 15 lakh rupees in each one's account and acche din.

"It's a blatant lie and cheating. PM Modi has laid the foundation stone of Dhule - Nardana railway line which is just 50 to 60 kms, and not the 362-km line actually proposed and sanctioned", Congress MLA from Malegaon Central Assembly seat Asif Shaikh and Nashik District Congress President Dr Tushar Shewale said in a joint statement.

"Yet the event is publicised as the foundation stone ceremony of whole Manmad to Indore railway line to be built at the cost of 8,858 crore rupees", they said referring to the ceremony organised Saturday.

Besides PM Modi who laid the foundation stone, the event was attended by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister of Shipping and Road Transport Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Union Minister of State Dr Subhash Bhamre and others.

The foundation stone ceremony for the 362 km Dhule Nardana railway line is followed by an MoU signed between JNPT- Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Railways, Govt of Maharashtra and Govt of Madhya Pradesh on August 28, 2018. It is claimed that the project will reduce the distance from Mumbai/Pune to key central India locations by 171 kilometers.

Interestingly, the Congress party and its governments have never been serious about the Manmad-Indore railway line for which the first survey was conducted in 1908 by the British.

When Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister, he ordered feasibility survey of this project. When Suresh Prabhu presented his first railway budget in 2015, he ordered a fresh survey allocating a fund of Rs.1.32 cr for the purpose.

After the project got sanctioned by Suresh Prabhu, the Railway Ministry in April 2016 announced a collaboration between the Centre and the Maharashtra government for speedy completion of the Manmad-Indore railway line via Malegaon-Dhule. The project moved forward after Nitin Gadkari's intervention following which the MoU signed between JNPT- Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Railways, Govt of Maharashtra and Govt of Madhya Pradesh in August 2018.

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