• Mega logistics hubs are being planned alongside the proposed Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors.
Kisan-Vision project
40. Madam, you may be aware that our country at present suffers an unacceptable loss of about Rs. 35-40,000 crore every year towards wastage of fruits and vegetables. I am happy to inform the House about the contribution Railways proposes to make to the second green revolution by introducing special trains to carry perishable products like fruits and vegetables, fish etc from identified production clusters to consumer centres, by way of maintaining quality and freshness of perishable produce. Railways will encourage creation of facilities of setting up cold storage and temperature controlled perishable cargo centres and its transportation through public private partnership mode. For this purpose, Railways will associate professional agency to identify locations and designing proper services.
41. On similar lines, to promote small industries sector, we will facilitate movement of village handicraft, cottage industry and textile products from production clusters like Tirupur, Dhanekhali, Shantipur etc to consumption centres. This will greatly increase their outreach and access to new markets.
Super Fast Parcel Express Trains
42. I am happy to announce the launch of a premium parcel service named “Faster Parcel Services” on a pilot basis on 3 routes between: Tughalakabad (Delhi) and Royapuram (Chennai), Tughalakabad (Delhi) and Vapi (near Mumbai), Tughalakabad (Delhi) and Howrah. This is envisaged as a time-tabled service from dedicated terminals with guaranteed transit time and web-based bookings. Dedicated Freight Corridors
43. The Dedicated Freight Corridor project on the Western and Eastern routes is a landmark project which will adorn the country like a necklace. In view of its importance for creating infrastructure in the country and generating employment I would like to declare it as the “Diamond Rail Corridors” project of the Indian Railways. The Western corridor passes through Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The Eastern Corridor will run from Ludhiana to Kolkata via Dankuni, covering the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Prefeasibility studies for the other trunk routes viz; North-South, East-West, East-South and Southern (Chennai-Goa) corridors have been conducted and Ministry of
Railways will take steps for further action in this regard.
44. The Government have approved the extension of the Eastern corridor up to Dankuni. To expedite the project execution in a time bound and cost effective manner, I will be setting up an expert committee who will look into all aspects and develop a robust business plan.
45. Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor is being developed in the area of influence of the Western Dedicated Freight corridor comprising industrial hubs, rail port connectivity, logistic parks and mega power plants which will be executed in public private partnership mode.
46. I visualise an Eastern Industrial Corridor developing alongside the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, similar to the Delhi Mumbai Industrial corridor. I propose to put Railways land banks to productive use. This will also avoid increase in cost and will help in early start of industrial projects. In order to catalyze industrial development in this corridor I have included investments in rolling stock production and assembly facilities and coach rehabilitation at Dankuni, Majerhat and Naopara in this region. These will lay the foundation for a rail based industrial cluster in the Eastern Industrial
corridor, drawing upon inherent advantages of proximity to coal and ore mines, large strength of labour force and India’s largest metal works market.
47. Madam, there is a very high demand for EMU/MEMUs and Metro coaches in the country and capacity addition is an immediate requirement. I am happy to announce the setting up of a new coach factory with state-of-art facilities exclusively to manufacture about 500 such coaches per annum in the Kanchrapara-Halisahar Railway complex where Railway land is available. This unit will be set up in Joint Venture /Public Private Partnership mode.
48. The Railways has already taken the initiative of setting up a power plant in collaboration with National Thermal Power Corporation at Nabi Nagar, which is expected to yield considerable saving in cost of electricity to the Railways. After discussions with the Ministry of Power we propose to set up a 1000 MW power plant at Adra to avail traction supply at economical tariff. Madam as I had mentioned in my opening remarks, this project is of great importance as it would be located in an under developed tribal area, and will help in providing employment and bringing the tribal people in to the mainstream.
Training for employment
49. India has one of the world’s largest populations of young people. Development and upgradation of the skill sets of our youth is critical for their economic empowerment and a better tomorrow. Contributing to the National Skill Development Mission, we will strengthen our apprentices training facilities and the new facilities proposed at Dankuni will impart state of the art training to young artisans and supervisors. This would be a significant contribution to the national talent pool and would be another key input in
making the Eastern Industrial corridor a key to the future development of the nation.
Performance in 2008-09
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