In a historic initiative, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 railway stations across the length and breadth of the country, 37 railway stations to be redeveloped in West Bengal.
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- The Hon’ble Prime Minister has emphasised on the importance of providing world class amenities at Railway stations. Guided by this vision, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme was launched to redevelop 1309 stations across the country.
- As a part of this scheme, the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 stations is being laid by the Prime Minister. These stations will be redeveloped at a cost of more than ₹24,470 crores. Master Plans are being prepared for development of these stations as ‘City Centres’, with proper integration of both sides of the city. This integrated approach is driven by the holistic vision of overall urban development of the city, centred around the railway station.
- These 508 stations are spread across 27 states and union territories, including 37 in West Bengal. With a record allocation of ₹11,970 crore in the Railway budget of 2023-24 for West Bengal the station redevelopment under Amrita Bharat Station scheme will bring further Railway centric development in West Bengal.
- More investment, more workflow, more employment both at the time of construction work for station redevelopment in West Bengal and also in post execution period when the railway stations will become an economic hub of the locality.
- These 37 stations in West Bengal for which Hon’ble Prime Minister has already laid foundation stone for thorough station redevelopment in West Bengal will become modern with investment of ₹1503 crores, the break up of which is as follows.
Barrackpore, Chandpara, Asansol, Barddhaman, Katwa, Pandabeswar, Rampurhat, Bolpur Shantiniketan, Sheoraphuli, Ambika Kalna, Tarakeswar, Sealdah, Malda Town, Azimganj, New Farakka Jn, Berhampore Court, Krishnanagar City Jn, Bethuadahari, Shantipur, Nabadwip Dham.
New Alipurduar Jn, Dalgaon, Falakata, Dinhata, Dalkhola, Kaliyaganj, Aluabari Road, Dhupguri, Jalpaiguri Road, Binnaguri, New Mal Jn, Hasimara, Kamakhyaguri, Jalpaiguri, Haldibari, Samsi.
- Over Eastern Railway network, foundation stone for station redevelopment under Amrita Bharat station scheme laid for a total of 28 Railway Stations of which, 21 Stations are in West Bengal, 5 Stations are in Bihar & 2 Stations are in Jharkhand. The total cost for re-development of these 28 stations over Eastern Railway is approximately ₹1187 crore.
- At all these Amrita Bharat Stations, in addition to world class amenities and facilities will have space for One Station One Product (OSOP) stalls following visionary guidelines of Hon’ble Prime Minister for bringing Indian indigenous product to the global market and take advantage of our better competitive ability.
- Now the Eastern Railway is all set to redevelop the stations as a catalyst of economic development of the region and also as a platform for bringing local products to bigger market, materialising the Vocal for Local and Local to Global concept as visioned for boosting the domestic entrepreneurs and artisans by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.
Source: Eastern Railway- Press Release | Images Credit (representational): Eastern Railway
