"USBRL powerful example of continuity in governance": Congress' Jairam Ramesh ahead of inauguration of Chenab bridge
New Delhi [India], June 6 (ANI): Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, on Friday stated that the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) is a 'powerful' example of continuity in governance, claiming that the 135 km rail link between Baramulla and Qazigund had become operational by June 26, 2013.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu and Kashmir today and inaugurate several projects, including the Chenab bridge, which is a part of USBRL.
In a post on X, Ramesh said, 'As the PM visits J&K today, here is our statement on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) that, like Brahmos, is a powerful example of continuity in governance which he never acknowledges but cannot run away from.'
Ramesh, in an official statement, said that the 272 km long USBRL was initially sanctioned in March 1995 when P.V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister. he added that in March 2002, it was declared a national project when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister.
Taking a dig at PM Modi, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said, 'Governance involves great continuity, a fact consistently denied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his perennial desire for self-glory.'
He further claimed that since 2014, the 111 km Katra-Banihar stretch, for which major contracts had been awarded much earlier, has been completed, adding that the contracts for the iconic Chenab Bridge had been awarded by 2005 itself to the Konkan Railway Corporation, afcons, VSK India, and Ultra Construction and Engineering Ltd of South Korea.
Mentioning a detailed timeline of the project, Ramesh said that in April 2005, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh inaugurated the 53 km rail link between Jammu and Udhampur.
https://x.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1930825889505223044
'The Indian National Congress greets the people of Jammu and Kashmir on this important occasion. It also congratulates the personnel of the Indian Railways and the public sector and private companies involved in the execution of the USRBL over the past three decades. It reflects a collective resolve and the success in the face of the gravest of odds,' the statement reads.
Meanwhile, Security has been heightened in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, with authorities increasing inspections and vigilance, particularly in Katra city of Reasi district.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu and Kashmir today and inaugurate several projects, including the Chenab bridge, the Anji bridge, and flag off Vande Bharat trains.
The Northern Railway announced the commencement of regular services of the Vande Bharat Express trains between Srinagar and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, which will start on June 7. The services will operate six days a week, enhancing connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the prominent pilgrimage destination. (ANI)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
39 minutes ago
- The Hindu
India has transformed under Modi's leadership: Ashok
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok has highlighted the 'transformative achievements' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 11-year tenure, while flayed the record of 10 years of the Congress-led UPA rule under Manmohan Singh. Addressing reporters in Mysuru on Thursday, Mr. Ashok claimed that India has reached new heights under the Modi government, and its GDP growth and infrastructure development have seen a three-fold jump compared to the progress achieved under the UPA regime. Highlighting India's rise on the global stage, Mr. Ashok said, 'We were once struggling for the 10th or 11th spot in the world economy. Today, we are the fourth largest, surpassing Japan and the U.K.', he said, adding that the country was once a bystander on the world stage but is now taken seriously. Citing economists and global institutions to back these claims, he said there was a period when India led a 'hand-to-mouth existence' and had to import food for sustenance. Now India was not only self-sufficient and exported food, but was also a major global supplier of medicines, Mr. Ashok said. India's resilience came to the fore during Covid-19 pandemic when the country became a lead vaccine exporter, he said. On national security, Mr. Ashok accused the Congress of inaction and alleged that there were 'over 9,000 terror incidents' during the UPA rule. Under the Modi government, the numbers had dropped drastically, and there was also a counter-response which was not the case under the UPA rule led by Dr. Singh, he said. Listing infrastructure gains, he said the number of medical colleges has more than doubled from 337 to 704, while the number of All India Institute of Medical Sciences has tripled from seven to 21. The number of airports has increased from 74 to 149, while the national highway length has increased from 90,000 km to 1.5 lakh km, he added. Mr. Ashok said the Modi government built 11 crore toilets and constructed four crore houses while 27 crore people have been lifted out of extreme poverty as stated by the World Bank report. On agricultural subsidies, he said it was ₹30,000 crore in 10 years of UPA regime under Dr. Singh while it is ₹1.27 lakh crore under the NDA-rule led by Mr. Modi. On Kashmir, Mr. Ashok said the abrogation of Article 370 has led to visible development and increased income from tourism, and while the BJP has vowed to stomp out Naxal violence, the Congress was apathetic towards it, he added. Addressing criticism from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who recently gave Mr. Modi a '0 out of 100' score, Mr. Ashok retorted, 'Mr. Siddaramaiah himself doesn't deserve even 0 – he scores negative. He is an outgoing Chief Minister, and the people have no expectations from him,' said Mr. Ashok, adding that not a single memorable irrigation project has been taken up by Mr. Siddaramaiah. MLA T.S. Srivatsa, former MP Pratap Simha and others were present.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Vijay Rupani: How the Rangoon-born came to lead Gujarat
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among those killed in the Air India crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route to London, went down just five minutes after take-off from Ahmedabad to the passenger list document accessed by India Today Digital, "Vijay Ramniklal Rupani" was listed as the 12th passenger on the list. He was travelling in Z class, which falls under the Business Class served as the chief minister of Gujarat from August 2016 to September 2021, before resigning ahead of the 2022 Assembly STUDENT LEADER TO GUJRAT CM: VIJAY RUPANI'S LIFE Born into a Jain-Bania family on August 2, 1956, in Rangoon (now Yangon), Myanmar, Rupani moved with his family to Rajkot, Gujarat, following political unrest in Myanmar. His father, Rasiklal, was a grain merchant leaves behind a rich political legacy. Rupani started his career as a student activist, associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) while pursing his BA degree from Dharmendrasinhji Arts College, before joining the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and subsequently, the Jan Sangh in 1971. His ideological commitment was such that he remained associated with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) since its establishment in debuted in electoral politics during the Rajkot Municipal Corporation polls in 1987. From being a corporator in Rajkot, he went on to become the city's mayor in 1996-97, and then a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2006 to 2012. Rupani's political career gained momentum in 2014 when Vajubhai Vala, a long-time representative of the Rajkot West constituency, vacated his seat upon becoming the Governor of Karnataka. A month later, the BJP then nominated Rupani for the by-election in October 2014, which he went on to win. Following this, he was soon inducted into the Anandiben Patel government as a cabinet also briefly served as Gujarat BJP president in 2016, before being sworn in as the 16th chief minister of Gujarat on August 7, 2016, succeeding Anandiben Saurashtra strongman was also imprisoned during the Emergency for around 11 months, and was reportedly sent to jails in Bhuj and Keshubhai Patel's tenure (1998-2001), Rupani was appointed chairman of the BJP's manifesto committee. He also had the strong backing of Narendra Modi, and played a key role in securing the party's impressive electoral performance in the politically-volatile Saurashtra members have reportedly said in the past that he had "a rare quality of keeping the workers happy and getting work done by the administration smoothly".In 2014, Rupani reportedly played a crucial role in reining in several powerful Patidar leaders in Rupani's constituency of Rajkot West is where Prime Minister Narendra Modi won his first electoral contest to become CM in politics, Rupani was involved in social initiatives and ran a family business. He was also a stockbroker. His death marks the end of an era in Gujarat is survived by his wife Anjali, a long-time BJP worker, and their two Reel
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
After nudge by high command, Cabinet gives nod for fresh survey of castes
Nudged by the Congress high command, which had been petitioned by the politically-dominant Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities against accepting the Socio-Economic and Education Survey (caste census) report, the Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod for a fresh survey. The Congress high command, on Tuesday, suggested to the Karnataka government to hold re-enumeration of caste data within a stipulated time to address concerns of some communities who complained of being 'left out.' With the Cabinet decision, the caste census of 2015 — which had been conducted for the first time during the colonial times in 1931 — is no longer valid. Reason for re-survey Saying that the lapse of 10 years since the conduct of the survey, by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes headed by H. Kantharaj in 2015, as the reason for re-survey, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in the post-Cabinet briefing, told presspersons: 'As per the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995, a fresh survey is mandated every 10 years. A lot of changes would have taken place in this last 10 years in the social and educational realm.' He also said that the Cabinet had, in principle, agreed to the survey report submitted by Mr. Hegde. When Mr. Siddaramaiah's response was sought on if the State government was under pressure from the high command, the Chief Minister said: 'The process was on. The high command has also advised for a new survey. We are not doing it just because they asked us to do a new survey. We have not succumbed to the pressure of the high command.' Asked why the State Cabinet had accepted the report in April, 2025, when it was nearly 10 years (survey conducted between April 11-2015 and 30 May, 2015), the Chief Minister said: 'It was only after discussions started that we realised that by law and Constitutional provisions it has to be done after a lapse of 10 years. As per Section 11 of the Act, any report after 10 years is not tenable. The provisions in the Act is clear that a new survey has to be conducted every 10 years after which a new list of backward classes could be drawn by either deleting existing castes or adding new castes.' It was also pointed out to the Chief Minister that when Mr. Hegde submitted his report, the survey had not completed 10 years. Within 90 days Stating that the fresh survey work would be completed 'within 90 days of notifying', he said that members to the backward classes commission will be appointed in the 'next two to three days'. Currently, barring chairman Madhusudan R. Naik, who was appointed in February 2025, posts of nominated members are vacant. Government appoints five members to the commission besides the chairman. It may be mentioned here that when the first Siddaramaiah-led government conducted the first survey in 2015 at a cost of ₹165 crore, Karnataka was the first State in the country to undertake the survey after the national exercise conducted by the British in 1931. Bihar and Telangana have done the survey after Karnataka completed the survey.
