Task of nation-building, national service must not stop: PM Modi in Bengal on day of mother's demise

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, December 30

The task of national service must not stop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday moments after flagging off Vande Bharat train from Howrah to Jalpaiguri and honouring his commitment to inaugurate multiple Indian Railway projects in West Bengal despite the demise of his mother Heeraben in wee hours of Friday.

Reminding citizens of the growing faith the world was reposing in India, the PM, visibly distraught over a grave personal loss, said, “In the Amrit Kaal of Independence, we have to work together to live up to the trust the world is reposing in India. Every Indian must put his entire energy in the task of nation building. We have to use every day of our lives, every moment of our lives for nation building. The task of national service must not stop.”

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked the prime minister for his presence on the occasion despite the demise of his mother.

“Your mother is our mother…May God give you the strength to love your mother through your actions,” the CM said, urging the PM to take rest and noting that he had joined the programme via video conferencing “moments after performing the last rites of his dear mother”.

The PM took the occasion to flag off multiple projects and said the government was working to transforming the Indian Railways into a “youthful platform” in line with India’s demography dominated by youngsters.

He mentioned with pride the significance of December 30. “Vande Bharat has been flagged off today from the land where the National Song was originated. On December 30, 1943, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had unfurled the Tricolour in Andaman and declared the Indian independence. I was in Andaman in 2018, on the 75th year of that historic development, and had the honour of dedicating an island to Netaji,” the PM said.

He said nearly Rs 5,000 crore worth of metro project work was under way in Bengal, 25 sewerage projects had been cleared and 11 were complete with the main work being the restoration of the Adi Ganga. Rs 600 crore would be spent to clean the river, the PM said, adding that the government was working on preventive health of rivers like preventive health in human beings.

The PM said work was ongoing on saving rivers of modern sewage treatment plants, keeping in mind future needs of the country in 15 years.

Noting that the country would work in Amrit Kaal with forward-looking thinking and approach, the PM said, “In this 21st century, fast-paced development of Indian Railways is important for fast-paced development of India. We are working to modernize the Indian Railways. A national campaign is on to transform the Railways through modern trains being manufactured in India.”

Noting that the pace of railway line electrification was unprecedented now, the PM said while 20,000 route km were electrified in seven decades since Independence, 32,000 route km had been electrified in the past eight years.

“Our efforts to give the Indian Railways a new identity are paying off. In the next eight years, we will see it reach new heights of modernisation. Railways is taking a youthful avatar in line with young India,” the PM said.

He said the speed and scale of work of Railways can be gauged from the metro rail network expansion.

“Pre 2014, India had less than 250 km of metro line concentrated mainly in Delhi and NCR. In the last eight years — metro had expanded to more than two dozen cities and 800 km track with work on 1000 km

ongoing,” he said, adding that twin challenges of the past century — lack of coordination between government departments and agencies involved in transport sector — had been addressed through PM Gati Shakti Plan.

“The idea is to prevent waste of taxpayer money. Taxpayers hate project delays at their cost and corruption,” said the PM.

He said work was under way to develop over 100 waterways projects with a 3,200 km cruise set to embark from Varanasi to Dibrugarh via Bangladesh.

The cruise will commence on January 13, 2023, he said, lauding Bengalis for preferring nation first in tourism.

Bengalis make up the majority of domestic tourists.