Mega decisions from railways to bridges, projects worth ₹1.60 lakh crore approved in the last cabinet meeting of South Block

The historic South Block, which was the center of power and policy making of the country for almost 95 years, is in its last phase. cabinet meeting Became a witness to (Indian Railways Mega Projects). In this historic meeting, the Central Government presented a new roadmap for development by approving mega projects worth a total of ₹ 1,60,504 crore related to Railways, National Highways, Metro, Urban Development and Startup Sector. These decisions of the government are being considered to decide the direction of India’s infrastructure and economic expansion in the coming decade.

For the first time since its inauguration in 1931, the central government is going to shift the administrative functions from South Block to the new Seva Teerth complex. The government and policy experts are considering the decisions taken in the last meeting before this historic change as very important.

Railway infrastructure will get a big boost

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved three major railway multitracking projects at a cost of ₹18,509 crore. These include the construction of the third and fourth railway lines on Kasara-Manmad, Delhi-Ambala and Ballari-Hospet sections (Indian Railways Mega Projects). These projects will expand the rail network by about 389 kilometers and are expected to generate employment of about 2.65 crore man-days. The government claims that this will enable additional freight transportation of 96 million tonnes annually, reduce oil imports by 22 crore liters and reduce CO₂ emissions by 111 crore kilograms.

Historic twin-tube tunnel to be built under Brahmaputra

Giving a big gift to North-East India, a 33.7 km long greenfield corridor and 15.79 km long underwater road-cum-rail tunnel between Gohpur and Numaligarh in Assam has been approved at a cost of ₹18,662 crore. This project will be among the first such twin-tube tunnel projects in the country, which will strengthen the connectivity of the North-Eastern states and create employment opportunities for about 80 lakh man-days.

Special focus on National Highways and Expressways

Projects worth thousands of crores of rupees have also been approved for national highway upgradation in Telangana, Gujarat and Maharashtra. These schemes will reduce travel time, provide better connectivity to industrial clusters and reduce logistics costs. Especially the connection with Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is being considered important for trade and industry.

New impetus to urban development and startup sector

The Cabinet has also given the green signal to the ₹1 lakh crore Urban Challenge Fund Scheme to be implemented from 2025-26 to 2030-31. Through this, urban projects worth more than Rs 4 lakh crore are expected to gain momentum (Indian Railways Mega Projects). Also, a corpus of ₹10,000 crore has been approved for ‘Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0’, which will promote deep tech, innovative manufacturing and new startups.

expansion of metro network

To strengthen metro connectivity in Delhi-NCR, the 11.56 km extension of Noida Metro’s Aqua Line from Sector-142 to Botanical Garden has been approved for ₹2,254 crore. With this, the total metro network of Noida and Greater Noida will increase to 61.62 kilometers.

Overall, these decisions taken in the last cabinet meeting of South Block have made it clear that the Central Government is going to make infrastructure, connectivity and urban development the pivot of development in the next decade.