RATNAGIRI, May 1: Prime minister AB Vajpayee on Friday stressed on the need to develop infrastructure facilities to spur economic development. Dedicating the 760-km broad-guage Konkan Railway line to the nation, he said that if infrastructure, particularly power, continued to be neglected, it would lead to "new problems"."If we had focussed on infrastructure earlier, we wouldn't have lagged behind in development," Vajpayee said.
The Konkan Railway project was an optimistic example of four states and the centre coming together for a developmental cause, he said.
"There should be a consensus on policies to ensure that political changes do not hinder progress. ``Had there been no change at the centre in 1991, the Konkan Railway project would have been completed in four years," he said.
The prime minister announced the introduction of a new train between Kurla and Mangalore from June 1 -- three times a week for now and daily from July.
Railway minister Nitish Kumar said that the Konkan Railway's dailyoutgo for the Rs 3,500-crore project, commissioned on January 26, is Rs 1.5 crore.Defence minister George Fernandes and chief ministers of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka were among those who attended the function.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
