PremiumNEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, approved funds worth Rs25,000 crore for the Indian Railways over a five-year period to modernise the communication networks using 4G spectrum to enhance public safety and security services at stations and in trains.
The railways will be allotted 5 MHz Spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) based Mobile Train Radio Communication on its route. In addition to this, Indian Railways has approved TCAS (Train Collision Avoidance System), an indigenously developed ATP (Automatic Train Protection) System, which will help prevent train collisions, reducing accidents and ensuring passenger safety.
The purpose of the LTE for Indian Railways is to provide secure and reliable voice, video and data communication services for operational, safety and security applications. It will be used for modern signaling and train protection systems and ensure seamless communication between loco pilots and guards. It will also enable Internet of Things (IoT) based remote asset monitoring especially of coaches, wagons & locos, and live video feed of CCTV cameras in the train coaches to ensure efficient, safer and faster train operations.
"It brings a strategic shift in Railways’ operations and maintenance regime. It will help in improving the safety and increasing the line capacity to accommodate more trains using the existing infrastructure. The modern rail network will result in reduced transportation cost and higher efficiency. Also, it will attract multinational industries to set up manufacturing units to fulfill the ‘Make in India’ mission and generate employment," the railways ministry said in a statement.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) also approved revival of Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (RFCL) to boost indigenous production of gas-based urea and help achieve self-sufficiency by improving availability of fertilisers for farming.
"It will be one of the largest fertilizer manufacturing units of South India. The project shall not only improve the availability of fertilizer to farmers but also give a boost to the economy in the region including development of infrastructure like roads, railways, ancillary industry etc. besides ensuring food security to the nation," a statement from the Cabinet Secretariat said.
Government is reviving five closed fertilizer units by setting up new ammonia urea plants at Ramagundam (Telangana), Talcher (Odisha), Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sindri (Jharkhand) and Barauni (Bihar) through formation of joint ventures of leading public sector units with an investment of about Rs40,000 crore. “On operationalisation of these plants, indigenous urea production will be increased by 63.5 lakh metric tonne per annum (LMTPA) which will reduce the import of urea to that extent and will save huge amount of foreign exchange," the statement added.
The CCEA also approved an increase in minimum support prices (MSPs) of kharif crops for the 2021-22 marketing season to ensure farmers get remunerative returns for their produce. While paddy MSP has been raised by Rs72 to Rs1,940 per 100kg, tur MSP has been raised by ₹300.
"The expected returns to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of Bajra (85%) followed by urad (65%) and tur (62%). For rest of the crops, return to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be at least 50%," the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
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