New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said 100 more airports will be developed by 2025 to support the UDAN scheme.
Presenting the Budget for 2020-21, Sitharaman said Rs 1.7 lakh crore has been provided for transport infrastructure in 2020-21.
She also said 150 trains will run under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, also four stations will be redeveloped with the help of the private sector. She also said that the work on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious 508-km Ahmedabad-Mumbai High Speed train project will be actively pursued.
Presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said, "After coming to power in May within 100 days railways has eliminated unmanned level crossings, commissioned WiFi at 550 stations, and aims to achieve electrification of 27,000 kms of tracks for optimisation of cost." She said that railways have small operating surplus.
"About Indian Railways there are five measures that I wish to highlight. Setting up a large solar power capacity along side the rail tracks on the land owned by railways. A proposal is under consideration," she said.
Besides, the minister promised more Tejas type trains to connect tourist destinations. Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said the third private train by the IRCTC would run between Indore and Varanasi. It is likely to begin operations by February 20.
