BENGALURU: Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw here on Saturday rubbished the state government’s claims that it was given a raw deal in the Union budget. He said Karnataka has got nine times more during the NDA government, led by PM Modi, since 2014 than what the UPA-I and UPA-II gave in ten years (2004-2014). With reforms helping IT and semiconductor industries, Karnataka will be a major beneficiary as a lot of companies have come forward to set up plants, generating employment opportunities for 40,000 people, he said.
“The budget for railway projects in Karnataka is a record Rs 7,748 crore. It is nine times the budget provided by Congress governments which was at Rs 800 crore. The massive allocation of Rs 52,950 crore will cover track, station, redevelopment, safety announcements, Bengaluru Suburban Rail and many new projects in the state,” he said. In all, 61 stations in the state are being reconstructed completely under the Amrit Bharat station scheme at an investment of Rs 2,110 crore.
Hits back at Siddu
On CM Siddaramaiah’s comments that the Union budget did not rise above the corporation budget, Vaishnaw said, “Leaders who cannot think beyond one year will always see it as a corporation budget.”He said, “Why didn’t the semiconductor industry come to our country? UPA governments wasted time, but we are doing it. We needed a visionary PM to do it. We will start the semiconductor plant soon,” he said.
Over 200 colleges have changed their curriculum to meet the AI industry needs and AICTE is considering framing a common curriculum for BTech degrees, he said.