New Delhi: Highlighting rapid infrastructure development in the country, President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday said that metro network in the country has increased more than three times in the last 8 years while national highway (NH) network expanded 55 per cent during the same period.
In her address to both the Houses of the Parliament, President Murmu said that more than 550 districts of the country will soon be connected by highways under the Bharatmala project.
Budget session of the Parliament began today with the President’s address.
The President underlined the rapid growth in the country’s aviation sector noting that India has now become the third largest aviation market in the world.
“Upto 2014, the number of airports in the country was 74, it has now increased to 147. Today India has become the third largest aviation market in the world. The UDAN Yojana has played an important role in this regard,” said the President.
She also stated that Indian Railways is emerging as a modern institution and many inaccessible areas are being added to the rail map of the country.
“A modern and semi high-speed train has become part of the Indian Railways in the form of Vande Bharat Express. Inaccessible areas of Jammu Kashmir and North East are also being connected by Railways. Major railway stations of the country are being modernized. Indian Railways is fast moving towards becoming the world’s largest electric railway network,” Murmu said.
She noted that the government has increased the solar power capacity by almost 20 times in the last eight years and India now ranks fourth in the world in renewable energy capacity.
“The country has already achieved the target of making 40 percent of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuel sources, nine years ahead of the target,” she said.
