Budget 2024 Latest Update: FM Sitharaman said key rail infrastructure projects including Metro Rail and Namo Bharat will be expanded to more cities and around 40,000 rail bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat coaches.
Union Budget 2024 Latest News: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget 2024-25 on Thursday and announced the launch of three major economic corridor programmes, and said it will be implemented to enhance the transportation of energy, cement, and minerals.
Apart from this, she also announced the expansion of key rail infrastructure projects such as Metro Rail and Namo Bharat to additional cities. She said the conversion of approximately 40,000 Indian Railways bogies will be done into Vande Bharat standard coaches. She said metro rail and Namo Bharat will be expanded to major cities.
“Forty thousand normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers,” FM Sitharaman said.
The Finance Minister further said that three major economic railway corridor programmes– energy, mineral and cement corridors, port connectivity corridors, and high traffic density corridors–will be implemented.
“The resultant decongestion of the high-traffic corridors will also help in improving operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed for passengers. Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate our GDP growth and reduce logistic costs,” she asserted.
“The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost,” the Finance Minister added.
Asserting confidence that the BJP government will retain the power after Lok Sabha elections this year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “In the full budget in July, ‘our Government’ will present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of Viksit Bharat.”
During the presentation of the interim budget on the floor of the Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared that the Indian economy has undergone a profound positive transformation over the last decade.
“Indian economy witnessed a profound positive transformation in the last 10 years,” the Finance Minister said.
Presenting the Interim Budget for the fiscal year, Sitharaman highlighted the government’s commitment to inclusive development under the vision of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas.”
“In the second term, our government strengthened its vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas,” stated Sitharaman, emphasizing the continuity of the government’s commitment to the welfare of all citizens.
She acknowledged the challenges posed by the once-in-a-century pandemic but noted that the country successfully overcame them, continuing its stride towards building an Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) committed to Panch Pran and laying solid foundations for the Amrit Kaal.