Daily News Capsule

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday digitally inaugurate the renovated Vadnagar railway station, where he used to sell tea as a child. Located in the Mehsana district of Gujarat, this town is Modi’s hometown.

Western Railway’s Divisional Railway Manager Deepak Kumar Jha said on Thursday that since Vadnagar town comes under the ‘heritage circuit’, the railway station building there has been given a heritage look at a cost of Rs 8.5 crore.

Gujarat government officials said that apart from the refurbished railway station, Modi is set to inaugurate several other projects, including a five-star hotel built atop the redeveloped Gandhinagar railway station and some new attractions at Science City in Ahmedabad. Jha said that during the online program, Narendra Modi will also flag off the Gandhinagar-Varetha MEMU train.

Vadnagar railway station

• Vadnagar railway station is one of the major stations falling on that route,” Jha told reporters at a press conference here. Since it is also a part of the heritage circuit, the tourism ministry spent Rs 8.5 crore to give a heritage look to the existing station building and its entrance.
• He said, “Vaartha is a small village in Mehsana district and is close to the famous Taranga Hill, which is a popular tourist as well as a religious place.
• Till now Mehsana station was connected to Taranga hill through a meter-gauge railway line.
• Since it was not technically possible to lay a broad gauge line up to Taranga Hill, we changed the gauge to Waretha, just three km before the hill,” he said.

On Friday, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the 54 km section which has been converted to broad gauge and this line has also been electrified. He will also dedicate the newly electrified Mehesana-Varetha broad gauge rail line, which passes through PM Modi’s hometown Vadnagar, and a 266-km stretch between Surendranagar and Pipavav station.

Prime Minister Modi’s father Damodardas Modi had a tea stall inside the Vadnagar railway station. During his childhood, Narendra Modi used to help his father in selling tea at the station.

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