Exponential and unprecedented development seen in last 10 years across different sectors: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi [India], May 15 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday attacked the Congress for neglecting India's growth for the 10 years in the UPA era and stated that Congress wasted India's economic growth potential and left it among the 'Fragile Five' economies without focusing on effective infrastructure development.

In a post on social media, the minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that in the last 10 years Since 2014, the government has allocated a total of Rs 43.53 lakh crore in Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) capital expenditure, an increase of 3.72 times compared to 2004-14.

Highlighting the developmental work in the last 10 years under the PM Modi-led government the minster said "Since 2014, 3.74 lakh kms of Rural roads have been built under the PM Gram Sadak Yojana, almost double of 3.81 lakh kms of rural roads built till 2014. Over 99 per cent of rural habitations are now linked with rural roads. -Since 2014, there has been a 500 per cent increase in the road transport and highway budget allocation"

She also highlighted that since 2014 National Highway (NH) network of India has increased by 60 per cent by the year 2023 and the speed of NH construction increased to 34 km/day from 12.1 Km in 2014.

She said "Share of 4 lanes NHs increased from 20 % to 30% of the total NH network, improving the logistics efficiency. The budget for BRO (Border Roads Organisation) increased by almost 4 times from Rs 3782 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 14,387 crore in 2023-24. -6,806 km of Border Roads were constructed between 2014-22, compared to 3,610 km in 2008-14"

In her post she also talked about infrastructure projects like the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway which will reduce the travel time and Asia's longest bi-directional Zojila Tunnel which reduces travel time from 3.5 hours to just 15 minutes, ensuring all-weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil, and Leh.

The minister added "In Assam, the Dhola Sadia Bridge slashed travel time from 6 hours to 1 hour, while the Dibang-Lohit River Bridge in Arunachal Pradesh decreased travel distance by 300 kms and travel time by 8 hours, providing all-weather access to eastern Arunachal Pradesh. Due to better roads, there is a significant potential savings of Rs 2.40 lakh cr - Rs 4.80 lakh cr annually in logistics costs"

The minister stated that under PM Modi the railway infrastructure has improved and ushered into an era of modernization with modern stations, modern trains, modern facilities and modern technology.

In the railways, she pointed out that in 2023-24, the allocation for Railways' capex increased to Rs. 2.43 Lakh Crore. It is a 30 times increase over 2004-05, and an 8 times increase over 2013-14.

She also informed that the pace of electrification has jumped almost 10 times, from only 1.4 RKM/day(Route Kilometer) electrification in 2004-2014 to 11.4 RKM/day in 2014-2024.

The minister said "From 4 km per day in 2014, the Indian Railways achieved daily track laying of 14.5 km in 2023-24 (5,300 km). -Rail connectivity to 4 Northeast states, i.e. Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur & Mizoram, has been provided after 2014"

Highlighting the work done in the power sector in the last 10 years by the government the minister stated that, India has transformed from power-deficient to power-sufficient by adding 193 GW of generation capacity (249 GW to 442 GW). She also pointed out that the power supply has improved in the country and said: "As of Nov 2023, the availability of power in rural areas increased from 12 hours in 2015 to 20.6 hours, and in urban areas, it increased to 23.8 hours. 100% rural electrification was achieved in 2018".

The minister informed that the metro network has improved the ease of living of people and said "Since 2014, the Metro network has expanded around 4 times, from 248 km of operational lines in 5 cities to 939 km in 20 cities. As the first of the eight RRTS corridors, the Delhi Meerut stretch will be completed by June 2025. -India's first state of the art 'Namo Bharat' train with a design speed of 180 kmph has been introduced in the Delhi- Meerut RRTS corridor".

In the aviation sector, the number of airports has increased from 74 in 2014 to 157 in 2024. The minister informed that the passenger traffic has increased from 169 MPPA (Million Passengers Per Annum) in 2014 to 376 MPPA in 2024. -559 routes were operationalised under the UDAN Scheme, which improved air connectivity to underserved regions.

Highlighting the ports' infrastructure the minister shared that the government has released a ten-year blueprint "Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030)" to boost the maritime ecosystem.

The FDI norms in ports were relaxed to attract investments in port development and operations and Up to 100 per cent of FDI was allowed for port and harbour construction and maintenance projects.

The minister also highlighted that in the ports the Average Container dwell time for India, as per World Bank's Logistics Performance Index (I-PI) Report-2023, has achieved a level of 3 days only, compared to 4 days for countries like UAE and South Africa, 7 days for USA and 10 days for Germany.

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