Prabhu opens electric rail network, Cong MP claims credit
ROHTAK: Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday inaugurated electrified rail network between Rohtak and Jind districts and flagged off a DEMU train between Sonepat and Jind via video conferencing. He was here at Rohtak with Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, where he said that Rohtak railway station will be developed as a model station on the publicprivate-partnership (PPP) basis.
However, to spoil the show for the BJP, Congress MP Deepender Hooda, who was invited at the event, took the credit for the projects in his long address. The Congress leader said the electrification project for Rohtak to Bathinda via Jind was approved in 2010 during the Congress rule and the funds for the same were allocated in 2012-13.
He also accused the BJP government of slowing down Railways projects in Haryana, citing seven projects approved or started during the Congress regime. Responding to his allegations, CM Khattar said his party was not making any delays in development works and had started the construction of firstof-its-kind elevated rail track in the district. The railway minister, too, said the Centre had increased the annual share of Haryana in rail budget to ₹1,247 crore in 2017-18 from ₹317 crore during the Congress regime between 2009 and 2014.
Prabhu said a new railway terminal with world-class facilities will soon be established in Gurgaon to ease the burden on the Delhi terminal. He said, so far, electrification work has been completed on 42 % of the total rail network in the state, and the figure will be doubled in five years.