Minister of Railways, Shri Nitish Kumar during his interaction with the Media after signing of MOU stated that Indian Railways initiative to develop adequate rail link for the new state of Jharkhand is unique in its nature and other states are also expected to come forward with similar innovative proposals. Its unfair that the states keep on demanding the Railways to incur massive investment in developing rail infrastructure without any serious commitment on their part,he added. The Railway Minister further added that necessary matching provisions will be made in the coming Budget for projects envisaged in the present MOU. Despite the difficult terrain of Jharkhand, the Railways would make every effort to complete the project within the stipulated time frame of five years, he stated. On the impact of these new projects on the economy of Jharkhand, Shri Nitish Kumar said that the resource rich state will benefit considerably from these investments.

    Speaking on the occasion the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Shri Babulal Marandi said that although a popular perception about Jharkhand is of a rich state the people are very poor because the basic infrastructure is in a very bad shape. He said that he would like to see Jharkhand as one of the developed state of the country for which development of infrastructure is a basic necessity. It is for this reason that the state has entered into an MOU with the Railways for accelerated development of the rail projects. Shri Marandi also handed over a cheque of Rs.40 crores to Shri Nitish Kumar as advance payment for construction of 27 Road-over-Bridges/Under Bridges on the busy rail routes, which will be additional to the projects.