Ahmedabad, Sept. 27 -- Union minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had transformed the Railways, and asked the public to challenge the Congress, "which talks nonsense", to a discussion on the basis of facts and figures.
Speaking at a gathering after flagging off the country's first LNG train from Sabarmati station in Gujarat, Shah said the Congress did nothing apart from scams during its tenure, whereas "no one has been able to accuse Modi of corruption of even four annas in 12 years".
"Before 2014, this country was ruled by one family. I want to talk only about railways. Dedicated freight corridor, rapid rail system, premium stations, all these have been started by Modiji. And by inaugurating a train running on hydrogen, he has placed India among just 4 countries in the world," Shah said.
"The Congress speaks nonsense. The people of the country should ask them to discuss with figures. You (Congress) did nothing except fraud, scams and corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crore. But no one has been able to accuse Modi of corruption of even four annas in 12 years," the Union Home minister asserted.
During the programme, Shah also flagged off WAG-12 electric locomotive from Sabarmati station apart from dedicating to the nation, inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of major railway projects costing more than Rs 1,500 crore. Among these are line doubling works, the Kavach train protection system, automatic signalling system and a WAG-12 electric locomotive maintenance shed.
Shah said that the government has increased railway safety expenditure by 67 per cent and locomotive production capacity by 66 per cent during the tenure of the govt.
He said that the consumption of diesel by the Railways has decreased from 293 crore litres in 2015-16 to 108 crore litres in 2024-25.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.