News Analysis India

Tag: Piyush Goyal

  • Government plans jumbo container based COVID hospitals near industries producing gaseous oxygen

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government is planning to set up jumbo container based COVID-19 hospitals near industries which produce gaseous oxygen in order to increase the number of oxygen-supported beds amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

    Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Piyush Goyal said steel plants have raised the production of by-product liquid oxygen so that the demand for the essential public health commodity could be met.

    New oxygen plants are being set up in different parts of the country while production capacity of existing plants have been increased, he said at a press conference.

    “Jumbo container based COVID-19 hospitals using gaseous oxygen will be set up near industries which produce mainly gaseous oxygen.  With this, oxygen beds can be increased as much as possible,” Goyal said.

    With a record single-day rise of 3,86,452 cases, India’s COVID-19 tally has climbed to 1,87,62,976, while the number of active cases in the country has crossed 31 lakh, the health ministry said on Friday.

    The death toll due to the viral disease has gone up to 2,08,330 with 3,498 more people succumbing to it.

    Due to the sudden spike in coronavirus cases, there were reports of a shortage of hospital beds, ICUs and oxygen in some parts of the country, including Delhi.

  • Oxygen Express train begins journey from Maharashtra’s Kalamboli to get loaded in Visakhapatnam

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways’ Oxygen Express train with seven tankers left Kalamboli goods yard in Navi Mumbai on Monday for Vizag where it will be loaded with medical oxygen for Maharashtra.

    The service of Oxygen Express trains was announced by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday evening and a ramp was built by the Central Railway at Kalamboli overnight to facilitate loading of the roll-on-roll-off oxygen trucks on the train.

    The rolling stock for the same has been funded by the Indian Army and is maintained by the Railways. “The roll-on-roll-off service with seven empty tankers departed from Kalamboli goods yard for Visakhapatnam steel plant siding at 8.05 pm today. This train will move via Vasai Road, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Raipur Junction to Visakhapatnam steel plant siding in East Coast Railway zone where it will be loaded with liquid medical oxygen,” the railways said.

    Railways is running its first Oxygen Express in its fight against COVID-19. The Ro-Ro service with 7 empty tankers departed from Kalamboli, Maharashtra for Vizag today.Oxygen Express will move via a green corridor for loading with Liquid Medical Oxygen. pic.twitter.com/TonlClDdQf
    — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 19, 2021

    Officials said that Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments had earlier approached the Railways Ministry to explore whether liquid medical oxygen tankers could be moved by the rail network.

    On the receipt of the request from the two states, the Railways explored the technical feasibility of transportation of liquid medical oxygen and decided that it has to be transported through roll-on-roll-off service with road tankers placed on flat wagons.

    “Since the first empty tankers will move on April 19, we hope to begin operations of Oxygen Express over the next few days. We would be able to send oxygen wherever there is such demand. Green corridor is being created for fast movement of Oxygen Express trains,” an official had said.

    A meeting was held between Railway Board officials and state transport commissioners and representatives of the industry on April 17 on issues related to transportation of liquid medical oxygen.

    “Instructions have been issued to zonal railways to ensure readiness to receive the trailers and load them. Ramps have to be built at Vizag, Angul and Bhilai and the existing ramp at Kalamboli is to be strengthened. Ramps at other locations would also be ready in a couple of days by the time the tankers reach those locations,” the railways said in a statement.

    “Due to restrictions of height of Road Over Bridges and over-head equipment at certain locations, the model of road tanker T-1618 with a height of 3,320 mm was found feasible to be placed on flat wagons (DBKM) with a height of 1,290 mm,” it added.

    In order to ensure that parameters of transportation are tested, trials were conducted at various locations, it said. On April 18 a trial was organised by the Western Railway at Boisar where a loaded tanker was placed on a flat DBKM wagon and all the required measurements were taken.

    In order to enable commercial booking and freight payment for roll-on-roll-off movement of liquid medical oxygen in cryogenic tankers, the Railway Ministry had issued a circular on April 16 providing all necessary details and guidance on the matter.

  • Piyush Goyal takes his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal on Thursday took his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

    The third phase of COVID-19 vaccination for all above 45 years begins from today.

    The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had on Tuesday announced that from April 1 all people above 45 years will be eligible for vaccination.

    According to the Health Ministry, advance appointments for vaccination can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in, or one can visit their nearest vaccination centre after 3 pm and get on-site registration done.

    Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 6.43 crore today, said the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday.

    According to the health ministry, a total of 6,51,17,896 vaccine doses have been given so far.

  • Railways infrastructure will never be privatised, assets to be monetised: Piyush Goyal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government Friday said in Rajya Sabha that railways infrastructure will never be privatised but it plans to monetise its assets to generate resources to boost growth.

    Railways Minister Piyush Goyal also said that passenger train operations taken up through Public Private Partnership (PPP) is targeted to bring a total investment of about Rs 30,000 crore.

    The Ministry of Railways plans to monetise assets including through Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors after commissioning, induction of 150 modern rakes through PPP, station redevelopment through PPP, railway land parcels, multi-functional complexes (MFC), railway colonies, hill railways and stadiums, Goyal said during the Question Hour.

    “Asset monetisation would help in generating more resources towards infrastructure creation. Passenger train operations taken up through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is targeted to bring a total investment of about ? 30,000 crore,” Goyal said.

    Replying to a supplementary asked by Jairam Ramesh of the Congress, Goyal said he felt the Opposition member was not able to understand the difference between privatisation and monetisation.

    “When you privatise, you sell off the assets permanently and it no more remains a part of the government ownership. In the railways, the plan to is monetise in terms of how it will generate resources, further investment and growth. The infrastructure of Indian Railways will never be privatised,” Goyal said.

    ALSO READ | Be careful, follow COVID guidelines: Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu to MPs as infections rise

    The Railways Minister said dedicated freight corridors are a separate corporate entity and the railways is supporting them.

    “The Railways is supporting but is not the owner of tracks that the DFC is laying …If we raise funds by leasing them, giving them out to private sector to use in the interim period we are doing a service to the nation,” the minister said.

    The Ministry of Railways is committed towards enhancing the pace of infrastructure development, which is vital for the national economy as a whole, he said.

    The railways would always be a key economic driver in the strategy of investment-led economic growth, he said.

    The minister said assets monetisation involves various transaction processes, and the investment expected depends on the outcome of bidding process open to public and private sectors.

    “Therefore, the actual investment expected from private and public sectors cannot be ascertained as of now,” he added.

    Goyal said modern train is the need of the day, and the railways has got historic Rs 2.15 lakh crore allotment under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If a road is built, everyone uses it, similarly if a pipeline is built by GAIL and they only use it, it will be misused, he said.

    “Similarly, if new rail tracks are laid and private people are invited and encouraged to operate there, it will be run by locopilots, there will be caterers, so it will generate employment and not lead to job losses,” he said.

    In reply to a supplementary raised by the leader of the opposition in the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge about a proposal to merge three divisions of Gulbarga in Karnataka, Goyal said the Railways Board did not find it feasible.

    He said proposals made by Zonal Managers are sent to the Board for a holistic view with an all-India perspective.

    He, however, added that he will discuss the issue with Kharge separately.

    In a reply to another supplementary, he said for seven routes dedicated to semi-high speed passenger corridors, the government is talking to state governments and added that there has been good response from the Uttar Pradesh government which is cooperating on the Delhi-Varanasi route, mostly elevated along the highways.

    He said under PM Modi’s leadership instead of just haphazard announcements, which he alleged used to be the case earlier, committed plans are being made and it is being ensured that the rail infra is augmented in the entire country instead of just a few places.

  • BJP , Shiv Sena duel in Lok Sabha over Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, metro projects

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Lok Sabha proceedings on Wednesday saw verbal duels between BJP and Shiv Sena, who accused each other of non-cooperation over important infrastructure initiatives like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and Mumbai Metro project in Maharashtra. 

    While Railway Minister Piyush Goyal charged the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government of stalling the bullet train project, the Shiv Sena accused the Centre of not cooperating with the state dispensation over the Metro car shed project.

    Goyal said it was because of the “ego” of the state government that the car shed issue remains unsolved.

    After the formation of the MVA government, the Shiv Sena changed the Metro car shed site from Aarey to Kanjur.

    The Kanjur land belongs to the Centre.

    Arguments began during Question Hour when Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav asked whether there are any plans to run a bullet train between Mumbai and Nagpur. Goyal said: “Decisions were taken swiftly and work also started on it rapidly. World’s best technology was brought to India. But I am pained that since the new government was formed in Maharashtra, there is a sort of full-stop to the work,” Goyal said.

    Goyal also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly desires that the country has an advanced technology, railways run faster and people get world class facilities.

    For the same purpose, work on a high-speed railway line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad was being undertaken.

    The minister said the land acquisition started at a fast pace and 95 per cent land of land under the jurisdiction of Gujarat has been acquired.

    Land from Dadra Nagar Haveli too has been acquired.

    He said there is still hardly any progress on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train after the new government came to power in 2019.

    He said only 24 per cent of land required for the work under the jurisdiction of Maharashtra has been acquired.

    “The work on high-speed railway is not progressing in Maharashtra. The work in Gujarat is moving at fast pace but it has stopped in Maharashtra,” he said.

    Replying to a question on the same issue by Manoj Kotak, BJP MP from Northeast Mumbai, Goyal said even the land from where the bullet train is to start from Mumbai has not been handed over to Centre.

    “The member (Jadhav) desires that a high-speed railway should run between Mumbai to Nagpur. Who desires it more than myself. I hail from Mumbai, was born and brought up there. Prime Minister’s dream is to have a high-speed railway but for that my pain is the Maharashtra government has hindered the progress of the project.”

    “In such a case how can there be a railway between Mumbai and Nagpur. It’s beyond my understanding,” Goyal said.

    Shiv Sena MP Jadhav said the reason why people of Maharashtra oppose the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is they feel this is a ploy to shift big businesses to Gujarat.

    To this, Arvind Sawant, another Shiv Sena member and a former Cabinet minister till he resigned after his party parted ways with the BJP to join hands with Congress and NCP to form the MVA government, accused Goyal of lying.

    “We always speak truth. The job to lie is of leaders for the post of chief minister,” Goyal said alluding to Thackeray.

    “I don’t know what the leaders desire. They don’t cooperate with us even for developmental work,” he said.

    Goyal asked Jadhav to put pressure on the Maharashtra government for cooperation from its end.

    Hitting back, Jadhav said the reason why people of Maharashtra oppose the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train is because they feel “this is a ploy” to shift all big businesses to Gujarat.

    “Even before this all corporate offices, government offices have moved out of Mumbai. This is a ploy of the Centre to reduce the importance of Mumbai,” he said.

    Rubbishing the charge, Goyal said when the BJP-led government was in Maharashtra from 2014-19, there was no flight of businesses from Maharashtra to any other state.

    “Yes, but looking at the condition prevailing today, the work it has done and also the way it has failed in COVID management and running the government with taints of corruption. In such a scenario if people (business) leave Mumbai, then who is responsible,” he said.

    “The line which has already been decided, for which Maharashtra has already given its approval, if there is no cooperation even on that then what attitude it will adopt for future lines,” Goyal said.

    To this, Sawant, who represents Mumbai South constituency, accused the minister of “speaking half-truth”.

    Sawant said the state government has to receive Rs 1 lakh crore from the Centre.

    “You will not give that (Kanjur) land. You have kept mum on the land for Metro car shed.

    He said the Centre was not cooperating with the state government by giving its land for the Metro car shed project,” he said.

    “It (that the Centre has to give Rs 1 lakh crore to Maharashtra) is baseless. I will give the details of how much money Maharashtra government has to pay the Centre. Just because there is no cooperation many of the projects have been hit,” Goyal said.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Nearly 70,000 rail staff vaccinated, 3.2 lakh to receive jabs in next phase, Goyal tells parliament

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Nearly 70,000 railway employees have received anti-coronavirus vaccine, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed Parliament on Wednesday.

    Railway employees are being vaccinated in a phased manner, he said in response to a query.

    In the first phase, the railways has begun vaccination of its healthcare workers and Railway Protection Force (RPF) employees.

    More than 3.2 lakh frontline railway employees have been identified for vaccination in the next phase, he said.

    “Till now, 18,964 Railway healthcare and 48,994 RPF employees have been vaccinated, 3,22,322 front line Railway employees have been identified for vaccination in the next phase,” Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

    The railways continued operating its freight trains and began running special trains since March last year when the government announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

    The national carrier has lost 592 employees due to COVID-19 while 32,641 railway employees in total were affected by the disease.

  • Opposition will get even fewer seats in next LS polls if it continues to misguide farmers: Piyush Goyal

    By PTI
    SHIMLA: Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said if the opposition continues to “misguide” farmers, it will end up getting even fewer seats in the next Lok Sabha election.

    The Union minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry, and Consumer Affairs was speaking to the media at Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s official residence here.

    “Opposition should not misguide farmers (on farm laws),” he said.

    Avoiding a question on how much loss the Railways incurred due to the farmers’ agitation, Goyal alleged the opposition Congress had misguided people on various issues and that was why electors reduced it to just a few seats in the general election, and the party was unable to secure the post of the Leader of Opposition.

    “If the opposition continues misguiding farmers like this, it would get even fewer seats in the next general elections,” he said.

    Congress had won 44 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

    It’s tally improved marginally in the 2019 general election to 52.

    Goyal stated that the farm laws brought by the government are in the interest of the farmers and the country.

    Majority of farmers, including those from Himachal Pradesh, are in favour of new farm laws, and only some are “misguided”, he said, adding that a solution would soon be reached.

  • CM Baghel to meet Delhi minister Ravindra Chaubey and Amarjeet Bhagat today, will meet Piyush Goyal

    Bhupesh Baghel will leave for Delhi in a special flight at 1 pm today, accompanied by Agriculture Minister Ravindra Chaubey and Food Minister Amarjeet Bhagat. The Chief Minister will meet Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi.
    During this time, increasing the quota of Chhattisgarh in FCI, they will demand 60 lakh metric tonnes of rice. Explain that the Central Government had given in-principle consent to purchase 60 lakh metric tonnes of rice for the year 2020-21, but till now only 24 lakh metric tonnes of rice has been allowed.
    Similarly, in view of shortage of gunny bags, the Center had allowed the purchase of paddy from the old gunny bags, but now the central government is saying that the new gunny bags for custom milling. To resolve these issues, CM Baghel has already met the Union Food Minister twice, but no satisfactory response has been received from the Center. State ministers say that no solution will be found after meeting with the food minister, then they will call for a meeting with the Prime Minister and discuss it.

  • Bhupesh Baghel will meet Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi

    Bhupesh Baghel will visit Delhi tomorrow. CM Bhupesh will meet Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal on the Delhi tour.
    Bhupesh Baghel will discuss with the Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal on raising rice and increasing quota. There will be discussion to increase quota to 60 lakh MT.
    Bhupesh Baghel will also discuss the Rajiv Gandhi Justice Scheme with Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

  • Today is the second day of Bhupesh Baghel’s visit to Delhi, will meet Union Minister Piyush Goyal

    Bhupesh Baghel is on a Delhi tour. While he will meet Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal, he will also meet senior party leaders. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will be visiting Assam on February 17. Will address several meetings and discuss with Assam Congress leaders.
    On the CM’s visit to Delhi, Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey told that CM’s meeting with Food Minister Piyush Goyal is likely. He said that Chhattisgarh government has purchased more than 92 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this year.
    The central government had given a theoretical consent to take 60 lakh metric tonnes of rice, but so far only 24 lakh metric tonnes of rice have been allowed to be lifted.