Address at the Function Organised by the Harnaut Rail Coach Workshop

ADDRESS

I am happy to participate in the foundation stone laying function of the Harnaut Rail Coach Repair Workshop today. I am sure this workshop will have tremendous capabilities for using modern facilities. I take this opportunity to felicitate the Central and State Governments and the people of Bihar on this happy occasion. I would also like to greet all those present here and the organizers of the function today.

Historical glory

I am happy to be amidst such a large gathering. You should feel fortunate to belong to a State whose glorious legacy is so widely acknowledged. The fertile Gangetic plains of Bihar had been the cradle of our ancient civilization. The State in its ancient form finds mention in the ancient epic Ramayana and also figures in the Upanishads. The reign of Janaka is remembered even today for having propounded the rule of law and selfless disposition of a king towards his subjects.

It is in the sacred soil that Buddha attained enlightenment and Mahavira attained Mokhsha. The precepts of truth, non-violence and the path to attain supreme purity of mind and heart as taught by them is a guiding force even today. The State has also been the land of the tenth Guru of the Sikh faith, Guru Gobind Singh.

Bihar continued to remain in the limelight in the medieval age and the modern times too. The administrative vision of Sher Shah Suri was emulated by many of his successors. His ambitious project of building the Grand Trunk Road from Bengal to Punjab provided the blue print for today's National Highways. The independence struggle received a driving impetus from Bihar after Gandhiji chose Champaran to launch his peaceful Satyagraha Movement against the British Empire. It has produced many towering personalities like Dr. Rajendra Prasad who not only served as the President of the Constituent Assembly which framed the country's Constitution but later became the country's first President. Freedom fighters like Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and Acharya Kriplani also made Bihar a theatre of their activities. The youthful and charismatic leadership of Jayaprkash Narayan during the Quit India Movement and later during the Sampoorna Kranti movement is yet another historical landmark. My salutations to all those beautiful minds who endowed us with such a rich heritage and helped us in fulfilling the first vision of the nation by winning freedom. It is our duty today to work towards development of the State which will lead to development of the nation.

Daily the Indian Railways contribute in a big way to the development of the nation by way of running 14,444 trains out of which 8702 passenger trains. I will consider Indian Railwayss is a dynamic system in our economy. I am glad to be a part of this system. This Coach workshop, I am told by the Hon'ble Minister for Railways has a great potential for growth.

Technology Development

Technology will have to play a key role in the development of the nation. India is fortunate in having produced a pool of world-class scientific talent. The benefits of science and technology has to percolate to the common man to improve his quality of life. India after its independence was determined to move ahead with planned policies for science and technology. Now, India is very near to self-sufficiency in food. Also improvements in the health sector have eliminated a few contagious diseases. There is an increase in life expectancy. Small scale industries provide high percentage of National GDP - a vast change in 1990s compared to 1950s. Today, India can design, develop and launch world class communication and remote sensing satellites.

The nuclear establishments have reached the capability of building nuclear power stations, nuclear medicine and nuclear irradiation of agricultural seeds for growth in agricultural production. Today India has become a Nuclear Weapon State. Defence Research had led to design, development and production of strategic and cruise missile systems, sonars, under water weapons, light combat aircraft, tanks, electronic warfare systems and various armours. Also we have seen growth in the Information Technology; the country is progressing in hardware and software export business of more than 10 billion dollars even though there are low ebbs in the last few years. India yet is a developing country.

When we talk of impact of technology on society, we cannot forget the transformation that railways have brought about worldwide. Conversely the latest of technology is finding place in the railway infrastructure.

Integrated Concept

The Harnaut coach repair facility is being built with "integrated maintenance concept" as against the "series layout" existing in most of the Coach repair workshops. Integrated system of working involves placement of coaches on trestle in Coach body repair shop on which several gangs can work in parallel. The advantages of this layout are reduced cycle time with reduced floor space area for overhauling of given number of coaches, independent handling of each coach and reduced requirement of unit exchange spares like bogies. The workshop is to be equipped with modern information network with on line data feeding which will be connected to Divisions and Head quarters for increased information access. It is being built with flexibility for handling all types of coaches including new generation coaches. The workshop will also house modern system training centre for catering to training needs of officials of East Central Railway and a modern stores depot to cater to the need of the workshop as well as adjoining Divisions.

The introduction of a modernized information network is a step in the right direction. This is in tune with our efforts to harness our core competence in the Information and Communication Technology Sector. In most developed nations Information and Communication Technology contributes directly to around 7 to 8% of their GDP. It is expected that by 2010 in these countries ICT will account for 25% of the GDP either directly (by way of sale of hardware and software) or indirectly (being an integral part of e-governance, connectivity for improved productivity, in industries and even in daily life for improved efficiency and transparency). In India ICT today accounts for nearly 2% of GDP. To be a developed nation, we should enhance this significantly.

Our core competencies that can be exploited in addition to what has been planned in 1998 include Information Security, Scientific Software development, e-governance that can spearhead a strong Domestic market, Entertainment, Education, Hardware and chip design and Wireless. If we exploit these areas of our core competency we can create Indian MNCs and could aim at a target of 150 billion dollars by the year 2010. Our Industry is capable of delivering the right goods every time and all the time.

It is heartening to note excellent growth in revenue earning freight traffic carried by Indian Railways during 2002-03, with record breaking performance of 518.48 million tonnes. The Indian Railways have rightly projected a target of 540 million tonnes to be carried during 2003-04. High growth of freight traffic is also an index of healthy economic activity in the country. Likewise, there is also sizeable growth in passenger traffic. We should feel proud that Indian Railways operate the largest rail network in Asia with 61000 kms of track, holding almost 8000 locomotives, 40000 coaches and nearly 3 lakh wagons. It is in this context, the Government has decided for an integrated development of rail infrastructure to ease capacity bottlenecks on the high density traffic network - called the Golden Quadrilateral under National Rail Vikas Yojana. This will also take care of improving port connectivity besides providing vital communication link in terms of mega bridges over River Ganga, Kosi and Brahmaputra. Total investment of Rs 15,000 crores as planned by the Government is truly a giant stride towards equipping Indian Railways to serve the people well in years to come.

Various measures have been taken to upgrade the railway system in India to meet the requirement of traffic and transportation for improving economic activities in the country. The Railways have to put in their might to fulfil peoples aspiration in respect of improved physical connectivity. In Bihar, lack of adequate linkages across river Ganga have generally been perceived by the local populace as one of the most important factor impeding the flow of resources between north and south Bihar affecting the overall economic development of the State. This concern could also be addressed by giving thrust to rail connectivity in the State. The issue of enhancement of safety standards in the railways needs concerted attention. There is a strong necessity to introduce the latest technologies like the Anti-collision device, total fire proofing, state of the art signaling system and other safety nets. Equally important is to put in place a disaster relief and rescue machinery which is sensitive and effective.

I understand that construction of two mega bridges over river Ganga, near Patna and Munger has been taken up. The work of another mega bridge over river Kosi near Nirmali is also on the anvil. The construction of these bridges will facilitate rail transportation in the region and will go a long way in boosting the economic activities in the State. Apart from this, a number of other developmental projects under new lines, gauge conversions and doublings are in progress. I understand that the completion of these projects would add over 1500 km of broad gauge lines in the State.

In line with these projects the Government is taking up the construction of this new workshop, the Harnaut Rail Karkhana. With growing passenger traffic, there is a need for induction of additional passenger coaches in this area. The projected capacity of periodic overhauling of 600 coaches every year with scope for further expansion up to 1200 coaches of this factory is expected to meet the present and future requirement of passenger coaches in this area. I expect that the new workshop will also become a model unit with the state-of-art technology.

Conclusion

I hope that the establishment of the workshop will launch development and attract more industries to form a cluster. The workshop should, therefore, be looked upon not as a mere source of direct employment generation but more as a centre of modern coach repair factory which can trigger economic growth in the region.

Construction of this factor will be a major challenge for the rolling stock engineers. Public sector projects are often quoted as examples of 'what should not be done' due to large time and cost overruns. I exhort Railways to demonstrate their efficiency skills in project management. I convey my good wishes to all for the project of Harnaut Workshop to be successfully completed in time.

My greetings and best wishes.