Hyderabad: The Vande Bharat Express began stopping at Mancherial from today. Union Minister Bandi Sanjay flagged the train in the presence of State Minister G. Vivek, MP Vamsi Krishna, and MLC Anjireddy.
Meanwhile, crowds of BJP and Congress workers gathered at the station. Supporters shouted slogans for Sanjay as the train rolled out, creating a festive atmosphere.
Bandi Sanjay cites Centre’s push, announces new bridge
MLC Anjireddy credited Sanjay for bringing the halt and asked for a foot overbridge. In response, Sanjay announced a ₹3.5 crore bridge. He also said ₹26 crore under the Amrit Bharat scheme would modernise the station.
He reminded the crowd that the first Vande Bharat began service in 2019. Since then, 150 trains have started running nationwide. In addition, Telangana operates five routes: Secunderabad–Visakhapatnam, Secunderabad–Tirupati, Kachiguda–Yesvantpur, and Secunderabad–Nagpur.
According to Sanjay, the Centre gave Telangana ₹5,336 crore for railways this year, compared with just ₹258 crore in the UPA’s 2014 budget. He further said the Modi government spent ₹42,000 crore on state rail projects in the last decade. Moreover, he added that another ₹80,000 crore is planned for 40 ongoing works.
He also pointed out that the Centre invested ₹1.5 lakh crore in Telangana highways and ₹30,000 crore in rail upgrades over 11 years. In his view, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership turned Indian Railways into a profitable sector.
Finally, Sanjay urged Congress ministers to stop criticising the Centre. Instead, he asked them to thank Modi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for supporting Telangana’s growth.