No plans for privatising railways, says PM Modi
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that his government did not wish to privatize the railways.
"Those who are spreading lies that railways is being privatised... this is not our thought or intention," he said at a function here.
"We don't see railways only as a means to travel. We see it as the backbone of India's development," Modi said.
"What we want to do is to put more money for development of railways. This will help."
The prime minister added that his government would set up railway universities in all four parts of India.
"We have to take the railways ahead and through the railways we have to take the nation ahead."
He said that since becoming the prime minister in May, "most of the time I end up talking about railways".
“There is a misunderstanding that Railways is being privatised. However, I want to make it clear that we are not privatising Railways. We cannot go in this direction. You don’t have to
worry. It is neither our wish nor thinking,” he said according to PTI.
Last month, when he flagged off Meghalaya's first train service, he had said that there was a need for modernising the railways. ""Railway facilities are the same as they were 100 years back
... Privatize the railway stations and modernise them," he had said reported Times of India.