NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the inaugural run of Vande Bharat Express from Dehradun to Delhi via video conferencing on Thursday. He also dedicated to the nation, newly electrified rail sections and declared Uttarakhand a 100% electric traction state.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister Modi congratulated everyone from Uttarakhand for the inaugural Vande Bharat Express between Dehradun and Delhi and said the train will connect the nation’s capital to the Dev Bhoomi of Uttrakhand.
He informed that the travel time between the two cities will be further reduced and the onboard facilities will make for a pleasant travel experience.
Throwing light on his three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia, the Prime Minister underlined that the world is looking at India with high hopes.
“India has become a ray of hope for the world when it comes to strengthening the economy and fighting poverty”, said the Prime Minister.
He also touched upon India’s tackling of the Coronavirus pandemic and the world’s largest vaccination campaign carried out in the country.
The Prime Minister emphasized that beautiful states like Uttarakhand should make the most of today’s situation when people from around the world want to come to India.
PM Modi underlined that the Vande Bharat train is also going to help Uttarakhand in taking full advantage of this opportunity.
The Prime Minister recalled his visit to Kedarnath and remembered his spontaneous statement that ‘This decade is going to be the decade of Uttarakhand’.
He praised the development push of the state while keeping the law and order situation strong.
The Prime Minister expressed the hope that ‘Devbhoomi will be the center of the spiritual consciousness of the world.’
He said that we will have to work to realize this potential.
He mentioned that the number of pilgrims for the Char Dham Yatra keeps on breaking old records.
He also talked about the devotees coming for the darshan of Baba Kedar, Kumbh/Ardh Kumbh at Haridwar and Kanwar Yatra.
He said that not many states have this number of devotees arriving and it is a gift as well as a monumental task.
“Double engine government is working with double power and double speed to make this ‘Bhagirath’ task easy”, he added.