Our very own Padmashree Karsanbhai Patel Ji, very popular and dynamic Mayor of Ahmedabad, Shrimati Bijal Bhen Patel Ji; Shri GS Malik, the IG of the BSF in Gujarat; Shri KK Patel, Vice President of the University, who is steering the University to greater glory, Dr Anup Singh, the DG of Nirma University; Shri Hirenbhai Patel, the Managing Director of Nirma Limited, who has taken on the mantle of Karsanbhai. Of course, Karsanbhai just told me that you have moved on a lot to industrial products, which is very good, but I was urging him that you must continue to have your presence in the consumer section also so that all of us can continue to benefit from your products.

Dr Alka Mahajan, the Director of the Institute of Technology, Dr RN Patel, Additional Director of the School of Engineering, Dr VJ Lakhera, Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department. All the distinguished faculty members, board members, senior dignitaries, senior officials from coast guard and BSF and my young friends, brothers and sisters, students of this University. I am indeed delighted to be amongst all of you for the Praveg programme, which is in its third year this year and the focus that you have brought to the contribution of the armed forces and different wings of the armed forces to our national security, to our national development is truly a very good idea to instill in the youth of the country, in the youth of our cities, of our universities a sense of pride in the noble achievements of the armed forces.

Karsanbhai was just telling me about the different wings of education that Nirma University has expanded into, even moving beyond mechanical and civil engineering. We have recently started a Rail University in Vadodara which was a dream pet project of hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. And I was wondering if Nirma University would consider starting some courses which help us get a pool of engineering talent, maybe in the armed forces, maybe in the Railways. All of us are continuously looking for talent to come into our services. And, maybe a quite an exciting proposition to have an engineering core which is focused on the needs of the nation’s very critical arms, like the Army, the Air Force, maybe the Railways.

It’s, of course, just food for thought at this moment, but it may be a good idea to look at how we can expand the contours of education with more specialization to serve the needs of specific areas, and towards that end, this concept that has been initiated by Nirma University plays a very important role in encouraging the youth of the country to look at these areas also as possible career options. I think it’s a good idea to honour the defence personnel, the uniform services at Praveg. And also, through the exhibition understand what are the ways, in which the defence services are contributing to the nation.

And I hope this will open up some innovative minds in Nirma University to see how they can contribute with some new ideas which can serve us. In fact, I would invite you to partner with the Railways to do a similar programme. And we have a huge engineering core in our Ministry running through the length and breadth of the country – probably one of the largest railways in the world serving nearly eight and a half billion passenger trips and over a billion tonnes of freight being moved every year.

And I see tremendous opportunities for innovation – something which Gujarat is very famous for – in terms of how universities, such as Nirma University can partner, either with the armed forces or with the Railways or other arms of the government in coming up with innovative solutions that can help us in serving the nation better, serving all of you better in the days to come. And I can assure you that just like the BSF is serving the nation protecting our borders, just like the coast guard is serving the nation, protecting our sea routes and the coast line in some small measure as an ancillary to these efforts of the armed forces, the Indian Railways also has a small contribution in keeping the wheels of the defence forces moving, moving ammunition, moving armed personnel across the length and breadth of the country – to the borders.

In fact, in the 1965 war, we had about 17 casualties of the Indian Railways, during the 1965 war. Three of them were loco pilots, fourteen were our Railway constables, who gave the supreme sacrifice while moving ammunition and the armed forces to the borders and were attacked by the Pakistani air force and lost their lives. I remember when Vijaybhai invited me to come for this programme – the hon’ble Chief Minister – my immediate reaction was that this is more to do with the defence forces, and I would be little bit of a person out of place in the whole scheme of things.

But then as I reflected more, I have realised that the nation, it’s various arms in the service of the people of India have a lot of intertwined responsibilities, roles and therefore, in some sense each one of us is working in different forms to serve the country. And therefore, I am really delighted to be a part of Praveg. Praveg represents the energy of the youth. Praveg actually accelerates your energy. Praveg talks about speed.

It shows the restlessness in the youth of the country, and therefore, the name is quite appropriate when you are involving young minds, young children – boys and girls. It is this restlessness, this speed, this feeling of accelerating whatever sphere of work each one is doing that actually motivates all of us whether in government, in different walks of life and this youthful energy can actually help take this country to greater heights – something that the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, in fact, mentioned even on his 15th August speech this year, where he said that he is a restless person, a person who is all the time feeling that he has to do much more because we have a lot of gap between the developments in India and the developments in developed world – the other parts of the western world particularly which has made rapid progress – be it industrialization, be it economic growth, be it better welfare for the people of their countries.

And Prime Minister Modi is a man who is in a hurry, who is restless to catch up with that development. Hopefully, go beyond that development which we see in other parts of the world. And I am sure this army of youth that you are developing in the Nirma university will become the foot soldiers of development in this country going forward and will make this nation pride with their ideas, with their ideals, with their innovations, with their efforts so that our country also is counted in the league of developed nations so that we also can completely eliminate deprivation, poverty.

We can ensure that we all contribute to making of new India – the New India where every citizen has his own home, has 24×7 electricity in his home, has a toilet in his home, has digital connectivity in his home, clean drinking water, access by roads, quality healthcare, quality education. It is only when we look at the holistic and comprehensive development of every single child in this country that we will be able to truly call ourselves a developed nation, a caring nation that looks after its 1.25 billion citizens.

The government over the last few years has been making various efforts to bring about this change and in almost everyone of these areas, you will find that the speed and scale of executing our programmes, government programmes to reach the last man at the bottom of the pyramid have been accelerated over the last few years.

While I can read out tonnes of statistics, I think all of them, collectively, are reflected in the most recent rankings of ease of doing business that the World Bank has published only two days back, which show that in a short span of four years, the efforts of this government have been recognized all over the world in terms of improvement in our ease of doing business from nearly 143 to 77 now. And by next year when we complete our fifth year in government, my own guess is we will be in the top 50 in the world in terms of ease of doing business.

But, ease of doing business is incomplete without ease of living as the hon’ble Prime Minister often says. And our effort is, through our vision of new India, through the vision of Prime Minister about new India, how can we make the lives of every citizen better, easier, more fulfilling, more complete. And towards that end, if you see each of the programmes that the government has initiated – be it Swachh Bharat – after all, I am sure none of you would like to be conducting this programme unless there was this level of cleanliness and beauty and once we create this level of cleanliness and beauty, naturally nobody will spoil this environment.

After all, we are about a thousand odd people here, I can assure you nobody is going to spit in this beautiful surrounding. Nobody is going to throw a piece of paper anywhere around, because you have kept the place neat and clean. In fact, I can’t find a speck anywhere. This has been made so beautifully. But imagine if our own country was to be like this. If every railway station, if every street in the country, if every beach in the country could be like Sabarmati river front which has been developed in Ahmedabad, would we all not enjoy much more, would we not find life much more beautiful, if all our surroundings could be as neat and clean as this.

And several studies suggest that this will have a huge impact on the healthcare of our citizens, on the longevity of our citizens’ lifespan, and the amount each family spends on healthcare could possibly come down by about Rs. 50,000 per year if we focus on good sanitation and cleanliness. Now, while it may seem like a small programme but it’s a programme which has a deep thought behind it. When we introduced the Jan Dhan Yojana and provide that every family should have their own bank account, it has a deep ramification of financial inclusion, getting everybody to enjoy the fruits of banking services, formalize the economy, move India towards a more honest framework of governance. And we are able to ensure that 99.5% of the households in the country have their own bank account. Nearly 32 crore Jan Dhan accounts are opened in barely three-three and a half years.

When we talk about electricity we feel ashamed that 65 years after independence, we find thousands of villages which did not have electricity access. Nearly 18,452 villages did not have electricity access until three and a half years ago. Prime Minister Modi sets a 1,000-day deadline, and since, he comes from your state and your city, I think most of you are very familiar about his monitoring of his projects and the way he holds people accountable. He completes the electrification of each and every one of those 18,452 villages well before the 1,000-day deadline.

And I must mention to my young friends here, these 18,452 villages were the most difficult and inaccessible villages in the country. You will appreciate if they were nearby, if they were easily accessible, they would have been completed, hopefully, many years ago. These were at the top of a mountain, sometimes in deep forests, areas where there were no roads also – people had to lift poles and wires, cables and transformers on their shoulder and take it to those villages. Some villages we could only electrify using non-conventional energy like solar power with a battery backup. They are so inaccessible in remote northeast, in Arunachal Pradesh and other areas.

But Prime Minister Modi did not rest there, he said why should 30 crore Indians be deprived of electricity, why should electricity reach a village but not every hamlet, not any majla, dhani, tola around the village? Why not electricity to every household? And he launched Saubhagya, and I am happy to share with you that state after state now is ensuring what Gujarat did over fifteen years ago – electricity access for every home. Madhya Pradesh ensured that every home has electricity access. About a couple of weeks ago, they completed every single home. Bihar, one week ago, has declared 100% households now electrified. Every willing consumer who makes an application for electricity gets an electricity connection forthwith.

Ladies and gentleman, should any child in this country, seven decades after independence, be deprived of a basic amenity like power, like electricity. Can you imagine if you did not have electricity, you would have been a part of Nirma University, you would have reached here? I remember my own father studied in school below the street lights in his town, so that he could go to Banaras Hindu University and become an engineer.

But Prime Minister Modi who himself has suffered no electricity, no cooking gas, who has worked at the railway stations, who has experienced the agony of poverty, does not want a single child in this country to suffer, does not want a single child in this country not to have electricity in his home, not to have digital connectivity in his home, not to have ability for skill development to make a better life for him and his family/him and her and his family.

And with that objective in mind, a massive rollout of electricity in the next four or five months, everybody in this country would have an opportunity to have electricity in his home. Nearly five and a half crore women have been given a free gas cylinder connection. I don’t if any of you have had the opportunity to see, ‘Chalo Jeete Hain’. It’s a small 32-minute film in which the artists have sought to capture a small experience in the life of Prime Minister Modi. A small experience which in some sense defined his own thinking about what he wants to do in life. And as Swami Vivekananda said, which is a source of inspiration for all of us that it is only those people who live for others, who really live a good life, who really live life.

And I think organizations like Nirma University are not only creating good engineers, are not only creating good planners, are not only creating good architects or lawyers, but are creating good citizens of this country. Caring human beings, who I am sure going forward in life, will contribute a part of their well-being, a part of what they have learnt over here in the service of the motherland, in the service of the nation. While all of us will not get an opportunity to, maybe like the armed personnel here, live to serve the country, to protect its borders, to save the unity and integrity of the country through the armed forces but each one of us can equally contribute by being good citizens, by being citizens who work for the welfare of our neighborhood, of our society, for better future for the less-privileged, concern for those who have been left behind.

In the railway parlance and I think many of you may have heard of the statement, “कि समाज का एक वर्ग शायद रेल गाड़ी पर चड़ गया और आगे निकल गया पर काफी लोग हैं इस देश में जो रेलगाड़ी नहीं पकड़ पाए, जो आज भी पिछड़े हैं, जो आज भी वंचित हैं विकास से! मैं समझता हूँ हम सबका सामूहिक दायित्व है कि हम सब अपना-अपना समावेश करें इस बड़े लक्ष्य के प्रति कि कैसे देश में, कैसे समाज में हर व्यक्ति का जीवन सुधरे, हर व्यक्ति को सामान्य अवसर मिले, हर व्यक्ति के लिए आगे चलकर एक अच्छा भविष्य निर्माण करने का मौका मिले! और मुझे पूरा विश्वास है कि प्रवेग जैसे प्रयोग जो हम सबको उत्साह देते हैं, हम सबको एक defence और armed forces का जो योगदान है इस देश के प्रति उससे हम सबको प्रोत्साहन देते हैं कि हम भी उसमें भाग लें! भाग लेने के दो तरीके होते हैं करसन भाई, BHAG – भाग! कुछ लोग होते हैं जो भाग जाते हैं, कुछ करते नहीं हैं! समस्या देखते हैं तो देखके पीछे से निकल जाते हैं, कोई रोड पर एक्सीडेंट देखते हैं तो बोलते हैं भाई मेरा काम नहीं है, वो पुलिस वाला देखेगा – मैं बाहर से निकल जाता हूँ! और कुछ लोग होते हैं जो समस्या में कूदकर पड़के भाग लेते हैं, जुड़ जाते हैं कि हमें समस्या का हल निकालना है! और मुझे पूरा विश्वास है कि निरमा यूनिवर्सिटी का एक-एक बच्चा  इस समाज के सुधार के लिए, इस देश के भविष्य के लिए पूरी तरीके से भाग लेगा!

As they say, “having an exciting dream is the best alarm clock to wake up to.” And I am sure in the precincts of the Nirma University, we have hundreds and thousands of youngsters graduating from this august precincts, who all wake up with a dream, who all wake up to a better future for India, who all wake up to be a part of this great future that each one of us is seeing ahead of us, who all wake up to the great ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – both illustrious sons of this soil, both giving up their lives for the independence of India, serving to make India one, for the unity and integrity of India, contributing to the development and progress in big measure. And both giving us high ideals to live up to.

As Gandhiji had once said, “Live as if you are going to die tomorrow but learn as if you are going to live forever.” And I pray and wish each one of you, a very long life in the service of the motherland and great learnings in this university, great learnings from the exhibition that is before you today, great learnings from our colleagues from the BSF and coast guard, learnings that will be with you through your whole life, learnings that will help you become better citizens of this country. And I have no doubt in my mind that each one of you, champions of change, each one of you with a courage and conviction, consciousness, commitment to be a good human being with that Can-Do spirit that I will be the instrument of change. I will be the change that I want to see in the rest of the country. Each one of you living and working for that section of society which has remained marginalized, deprived for generations now – will not only make Karsanbhai and Nirma university proud, will not only make your very own Narendra Modi proud but will make the whole world proud of your achievements, your success. A very-very happy Deepawali to all of you and your families.

Thank You!

Flexi Fare Scheme was launched with effect from 9th September, 2016. The scheme generated high revenue however initially there was a drop of passengers which picked up later on. Further, to rationalise the fares an 8 member committee was formed to review the scheme and make it more passenger friendly. The review of the scheme has been done based on the recommendation of the committee, Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, and representations from passengers. The Railways has reviewed Flexi Fare Scheme and introduced following changes:

Discontinuation of Flexi-fare in trains with average monthly occupancy less than 50% throughout the previous year. (List of 15 Trains given in Annexure A)
Discontinuation of Flexi-fare, in lean period of 3 months, in trains with average monthly occupancy between 50-75% throughout the previous year. (List of 32 Trains given in Annexure B)
Maximum current cap of 1.5 times to be reduced to 1.4 times in all classes
To increase the occupancy of less patronised classes (2A, 3A, CC etc.), Graded discount of 20% on last fare on all trains with Flexi Fare and Humsafar Trains where occupancy of a particular class is less than 60% (4 days prior to scheduled departure of the train). Further, 10% discount will be offered as per the table given below:
Upto -70% occupancy : 20% on last fare

70-80% occupancy : 10% on last fare

Above 80% occupancy : Nil

Changes shall be implemented from Advance Reservation Period (ARP) i.e. 4 months after making necessary changes in Passenger Reservation System, on an experimental basis for six months to be further extended after assessing its outcome

 

Source: http://www.pib.nic.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1551420

Mumbai: Western Railway fast tracks travel for peak hour commuters

The Western Railway (WR) has good news for the to 37 lakh passengers travelling on the Churchgate-Dahanu stretch, starting November 1. The schedule of trains will change from Thursday, making local train rides smoother and less harrowing; especially during peak hours.

The WR authorities will not only run 10 additional train services, but the speed of 26 trains will be augmented. The number of services will be increased during the peak hours.

That apart, for the first time, they have accepted that “peak hours” now start sooner than what is charted officially. Until now, the morning peak hours were between 8.30 am-11.30 am, during which they would operate 136 services. Similarly, evening peak hours fall between 5.30pm to 8.30 pm, when 130 trains run.

“We have now revised the peak hours,” said a WR official. Peak hours now start at 8 am and 150 trains will run. During the evening peak hours, now starting at 5 pm, 149 trains will run. There has been a long-standing demand made by the Railways with the state government for staggered work timings, so that people come in batches, reducing the crowd control inside the trains and at the platforms.

Apart from this, the cumulative speed of 26 train services will increase, thereby saving 233 minutes each day. This means that the trains will reach their destinations sooner.

For instance, the Churchgate-Bhayander local that departs at 10.54 am and reaches at 12.14 pm, which will now be extended till Virar, will reach its destination by 12.13 pm. This would cut down 25 minutes of travel time.

They have also added 10 new train services on both slow and fast corridors.

There is also good news for those travelling all the way from Dahanu Road. The WR authorities are increasing the number of services from 34 to 38 on the Virar-Dahanu stretch. Even the AC local train will now halt at more stations, namely, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, and those between Borivali and Virar as well.

 

Source:https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-mumbai-western-railway-fast-tracks-travel-for-peak-hour-commuters-2681062

Chairman Coal India Ltd. Mr. Jha, other colleagues on the Board of the company, all the various chairmen and managing directors of the subsidiaries who have joined us through video conference but could not be amongst us today. As Mr. Jha rightly pointed out to them, the nation needs all of us on our job right now and all the CMDs have agreed at our request to be in station in the company, area of operation so that coal production should not suffer even while we are celebrating our foundation day.

 

All the former chairmen and managing directors, other directors, executives of Coal India and other subsidiaries of the company who have joined us today, all my colleagues who are an integral part I believe not only of Coal India but now have almost become my extended family with having spent four years with all of you in this company, family members of the Coal India employees, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

 

At my request the Coal Secretary and other officials from Coal Ministry also agreed to focus on what is happening across the country, the dispatches, production, environment clearances. So, I think in my four visits to Kolkata for the foundation day this must be the smallest stage setting that I am seeing, otherwise, it used to be a long list of senior people on the stage. But I think when the call of duty is supreme, when it’s very important for all of us to be on the job, celebration happens at our workplace.

 

The fact that we can increase production, the fact that we can meet the increased demand for coal by improving dispatches, the fact that we can plan for the future better and do our own jobs faster is more important than a celebratory get together. And therefore, just like when we are saying our prayers, very often we do the prayers of Ganesh Ji (Lord Ganesha) and we say that all the Gods are within Lord Ganesha. So, I think this time we decided that all the executives of Coal India are within the Board of Coal India representatives who are sitting here and everybody else is deemed to be present today.

 

But that does not mean that there is any less celebration of the 44th Foundation Day. It’s a matter of satisfaction that Coal India has been rapidly moving ahead in the last few years. Mr. Jha just gave us some of the statistical data, what he did not mention was the significant change that we have done in the working of Coal India in the last few years.

 

I still recall when I first became Minister, apart from the huge coal shortages, the kind of complaints and problems that we used to hear about in terms of quality of coal, about boulders of coal coming in along with the supply of coal, about huge amount of grade slippages, problems about practises in allotment of coal, practises in allocation of linkages.

 

This was certainly a Ministry that nobody envied me for holding. There was nobody I think in the whole country who would have liked to be in my shoes when I took charge in 2014. I think some of the former CMDs who have actually seen the working of the Coal Ministry and the coal companies over so many years bear testimony to the various multifarious problems that I had inherited in 2014.

 

I must acknowledge and thank all of you for your very important role in helping bring about some decent reasonable level of change and improvement over the last four years. And for that I shall ever be grateful to all my colleagues in Coal India Limited, past and present, who have contributed through sheer dint of hard work, commitment, passion to making a difference to the way Coal India works, improving the image of the coal sector as a whole and our companies and serving our consumers, our customers better.

 

Today, we don’t have the kind of quality complaints that we used to hear way back four or five years ago. Today, the grade slippages have almost become a thing of the past, particularly after third party sampling has given an assurance to the consumers of Coal India that even if there was an inadvertent slippage in coal they wouldn’t have to pay for it, they would get reimbursement of the loss that they would otherwise incur for coal slippage.

 

Other than one or two stray incidents, I haven’t heard complaints of boulders going out along with coal supplies in the last few years. Certainly, in the last, I would say 16 or 18 months, we are stressed for adequate supplies of coal to industry, to the power sector and we have huge challenges ahead of us to be able to meet the demand for this vital product, particularly when economic growth is so vibrant and so fast and so rapid, and the demand for coal is increasing at a very-very fast pace.

 

In fact, I still remember and Mr. Saxena is here that 2.5-3 years ago I had mentioned to my colleagues in Coal India that very soon you will have a problem of excess supplies and you won’t have enough demand. It was the time when we were producing growth rates of I think 6.8% in one year, 9% in another year and coal production was rapidly ramped up, which not only helped to bring down the imports but also helped to ensure adequate supply of coal to the entire consumer market.

 

Unfortunately, by end of March 2017, we were saddled with huge stocks because of which coal production particularly during 2016-17 and ‘17-18 remained at low levels. Today we are facing the stress because of that lower production growth in the last two years. Even as I speak, while we are growing at about 10%, my fear is the rate of growth is not good enough and very soon we may slip down from 10% to single digit unless all of us collectively decide that we will not let that happen and we will meet the aspirational targets that Mr. Jha just mentioned.

 

It will need a lot of effort collectively by all of us and I think the nation trusts our ability to be able to deliver search results. The nation believes that Coal India has people who can achieve this kind of growth, ensure adequate supply of coal to every sector in the country. We can make up for the shortages that we have had over the last two years. And I think we must make a very sincere effort to rapidly ramp up production, rapidly ramp up coal supplies, dispatches so that we can once again show the world that when it comes to a challenge, when it comes to meeting our commitments we are second to none. And we are not only a company which is titled a Maharatna company, but we truly have the ability, we truly are committed to being a Maharatna in the service of the country, in the service of our countrymen.

 

And I have no doubt in my mind, more particularly after some recent visits that I made to the various coal mines, particularly after the reports I am getting from all the mines and all the visits of the senior officials of the Ministry of Coal to the different mining companies that all of you are seized of the problem, all of you understand the importance of our role in increasing production, increasing dispatch and all of you are committed to actually achieving the target of 2.5 million tonnes of coal production and dispatch every single day that the nation is looking up to Coal India to produce and dispatch.

 

And I would urge all my colleagues in Coal India and the various subsidiaries to very seriously look at what steps each one of us can do singularly and collectively, so that we very quickly reach 2.5 million tonnes per day production and dispatch, because other than that I do not see any other way we will be able to meet the growing needs of the Indian economy – an economy which is today the fastest growing economy amongst the large nations in the world, an economy where demand for power is increasing at near double-digit rates, an economy where coal even if it was to increase by 25% in terms of production it will get absorbed in the Indian market.

 

We have a current consumer demand which can absorb 25% growth in coal production and I think we have never had a possible demand as good as this that we are facing today. And I do hope all my colleagues will really live up to this expectation of the people of India as we are moving towards eliminating poverty in this country, as we are moving towards eliminating energy poverty in this country, as we are moving towards ensuring that every household is blessed with electricity under the Saubhagya Yojana. We are hopeful that within the next 3 to 4 months every single home in this country will have electricity and we would like to give them 24×7 uninterrupted power supply.

 

And that is not possible unless Coal India lives up to the expectations of the people of India. Work is progressing rapidly, Madhya Pradesh announced about a week or 10 days ago 100% electrification of every home, Bihar completed a 100% electrification about four or five days back and we are seeing more and more parts of the country focusing all its energies to ensure that not a single child is ever deprived of electricity, is ever deprived of a basic amenity like electricity.

 

Just like all of us in this room assembled here in some sense have boarded the train of progress and development, it is important and incumbent upon all of us to ensure that not a single other child is left behind who doesn’t get opportunity to use electricity, to be connected to the Internet, to have digital connectivity, to have a better quality of life.

 

And as the country moves towards new India, as we make rapid strides towards ensuring that every single person in this country has a proper pakka home, a proper shelter with a toilet in the home, with electricity 24×7, with clean drinking water, with access, communication, roads, digital connectivity, quality healthcare under Ayushmann Bharat, quality education, particularly through digital data transmission.

 

When India turns 75 on 15th August 2022, less than four years from now, we wish to see an India which is truly empowered and empowers every single citizen of this country. We wish to see an India where every young boy or girl is blessed with quality education, quality vocational training, quality skill development. We wish to see an India where no woman ever has to cook on wooden fire or coal-based fire, probably taking in 400 cigarettes equivalent smoke while cooking a meal for the family.

 

We wish to ensure that no family ever has to get into poverty, has to suffer for lack of adequate healthcare or ability to pay for adequate health care for which we have decided that 50 crore citizens of this country who are deprived of good quality healthcare are covered under Ayushmann Bharat, which provides free healthcare for all the members of the socially and economically marginalized sections of society.

 

And as we are developing this level of self-sufficiency in this country, you will all agree ladies and gentlemen that coal cannot be continue to be imported. We cannot allow the nation’s valuable foreign exchange being filtered away, being used for import of a product of which we have such large reserves in this country. I believe over 300 billion tonnes of reserves in India of coal on the one hand and we continue to import coal on the other.

 

We also have large amounts of coking coal in Raniganj, in Jharia where we must address the issues of fire, address the issues of rehabilitation so that that coking coal can start serving our industrial requirement, our needs for the iron and steel industry. And in this, I think no better place than Kolkata which is the headquarters of Coal India Ltd., also our registered office to lead the way and show the path ahead.

 

In fact, before coming here I got a piece of information which I would like to share with you. We are in the land of Rabindranath Tagore, I don’t know how many of you are aware of this maybe Partha Bhattacharya ji maybe knowing this but I am given to understand that Rabindranath Tagore ji’s grandfather, one of the first Indian entrepreneurs who probably worked in the coal business, Dwarkanath Tagore ji, was one of the first Indians to ever deal with coal and, therefore, it’s very appropriate that this clarion call that Coal India will meet the needs of every single tonne of coal that India has.

 

We will move heaven and earth to increase production, productivity, quality, dispatch to ensure that India becomes free of import dependence should come from the city of Kolkata, should really be a mission that we take up in Kolkata, the land of Dwarkanath Tagore, the land of Rabindranath Tagore, a land which is blessed with so many freedom fighters, a land which is blessed with so much knowledge, so much intellect leading the way to ensure self-sufficiency (आत्मनिर्भरता) in the requirement of coal of this country.

 

और जब तक हमारा देश कोयले में आत्मनिर्भर नहीं होगा मैं समझता हूँ हम में से किसी को भी आराम करने की फ़ुरसत नहीं होनी चाहिए, आराम करने का मौक़ा नहीं मिलना चाहिए। यह हमारा दृढ़ संकल्प, यह हमारी प्रतिबद्धता होनी चाहिए कि हम एक मिनट के लिए साँस नहीं लेंगे जब तक देश के हर किलो कोल की जवाबदारी हम अपने ज़िम्मे नहीं लेते, हम प्रतिज्ञा नहीं करते हैं कि देश को विदेश से लाने वाले कोल से हम मुक्त करकर छोड़ेंगे।

 

और मैं समझता हूँ आज का 44th फ़ाउंडेशन डे का जो संकल्प है वह संकल्प यही रहना चाहिए कि हम सब मिलकर, एकजुट होकर, एक परिवार के नाते इस समस्या का हल करेंगे, इस समस्या का निजात करेंगे, इस इस देश को इस समस्या से निजात देंगे और भारत को आत्मनिर्भर बनाएंगे। भारत में जो बिजली देशभर में आज जाती है, हमारे कोल के बलबूते पर जो देश को रोशनी मिलती है वह विदेशी कोयले से नहीं होगी वह भारत में निकले हुए कोयले से बिजली जाएगी, जो लोहा बनता है, जो सीमेंट बनता है वह हमारे कोयले से बनेगा।

 

उल्टे ब्रिटिशर्ज़ नहीं चाहते थे कि भारतीयों को कोल माइनिंग आ जाए, आयरन एंड स्टील बनाना आ जाए, रेलवे चलाना आ जाए, वह सब अपने हाथ में रखना चाहते थे। कोल इंडिया को जब नेशनलाइज़ किया पहले कोल माइंस को 1971 में, 73 में उसके बाद 1975 1st नवंबर को कोल इंडिया की स्थापना हुई तब हेतु यह था कि यह देश की विरासत है, यह देश की अमूल्य रिसोर्स है| It’s a very-very valuable natural resource and national resource of the country and the people of India have the right to enjoy the fruits of this national resource that is coal.

 

मैं समझता हूँ उद्देश्य अच्छा था लेकिन शायद इतने वर्षों में किधर न किधर हमारी गाड़ी पटरी से उतर गई, आहिस्ता-आहिस्ता यह देश की संपत्ति देश की सेवा में लगने के बदले शायद कुछ मात्रा में कभी 1%, 2%, 2.5% ग्रोथ करते-करते एक लेथारजी आ गई कंपनी में, एक सुस्ती आ गई काम करने में। We lost that drive and that passion to serve probably became more focused on incremental growth, small growth, drew satisfaction that if we have done 3% growth we are better than last year, last year was 1%, this year we have done 3%, we would present to our bosses that sir, our growth has increased by 200%.

 

अगर बेस ही इतना कम होगा कि 8% ग्रोथ के बेस पर आप बोलोगे 200% ग्रोथ हो गई है और 3% हो गया तो मैं समझता हूँ हम सब के लिए शर्म की बात है। हमको एस्पायर करना चाहिए कुछ अभूतपूर्व करने के लिए, and ladies and gentlemen, extraordinary performance never comes from extraordinary people, it is only ordinary people who give extraordinary performance. Each one of our 300,000 employees has the ability to give extraordinary performance in the production, quality, productivity and dispatch of coal.

 

हम सब में वह क्षमता है, हम सब में वह काबिलियत है कि हम इस कोयले के इतिहास को बदल सकते हैं और कुछ लोग यह कहते हैं कोयले का भविष्य क्या है, कोल इंडिया का भविष्य क्या है, आगे कोयला लगेगा कि नहीं। मैं आपको स्पष्ट करदूँ इस देश में कोयले की ज़रूरत दशकों तक लगेगी, दशकों तक कोल इंडिया चलने वाली है, अच्छी तरह चलने वाली है, देश की सेवा करने वाली है।

 

हमारा प्राइमरी सोर्स ऑफ़ पावर कोल रहेगा लेकिन अगर हम सब इस चैलेंज को आज समझकर अपने काम को नहीं सुधारेंगे तो नई टेक्नोलॉजीज़ आकर हमको टेकओवर कर जाएंगी, नई टेक्नोलॉजीज़ में बल आएगा और हमारी ताक़त कमज़ोर होती रहेगी।

 

हमने उठना पड़ेगा अब यह छोटे-छोटे आपसी मतभेदों से। हमने उठना पड़ेगा कि आज मेरी यह अलाउंस कम हो गई, ज़्यादा हो गई, आज मेरी तनख़्वाह में यह कमी आ गई, ज़्यादा आ गई, मैं इस चीज़ से नाराज़ हूँ, मैं उस चीज़ से नाराज़ हूँ, मैं यूनियन हूँ, आप मैनेजमेंट हैं, आप टॉप मैनेजमेंट हैं, मैं सुपरवाइज़र हूँ, मैं सुपरवाइज़र हूँ दूसरा कोई फाइनांस का आदमी है। हमने इन सब चीज़ों से अब उठने का समय आ गया है।

 

यह जो आज देश में इतनी बड़ी समस्या है और मुझे बड़े दुख से कहना पड़ता है कि आज की कैबिनेट मीटिंग में भी कुछ मंत्रियों ने मेरे ऊपर टिप्पणी की और मुझे बड़ा दुख हुआ कि जब तक आप जैसे इतने कर्मठ हमारे परिवार के सदस्य हैं कोल इंडिया में| मेरे ऊपर आज टिप्पणी हुई कि कोयले की समस्या देखो देश भर में कितनी है, आपकी कोल इंडिया में काम ठीक नहीं हो रहा है, कोल इंडिया में इच्छा नहीं है लोगों को काम करने की, कोल इंडिया देश के कोयले की समस्या हल करने में विफल हो गई है, Coal India is not the solution it is the problem, जल्द से जल्द और लोगों को बुलाओ जो कोयले का कारोबार करें, कोयले की माइनें खोलें जिससे इस समस्या से हमको देश को छुट्टी मिले।

 

यह आज सुबह की कैबिनेट के बाद मुझे सुनने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ा है और मैं सिर्फ़ इसलिए शेयर कर रहा हूँ कि मेरा दुख है कि यह बात मैं किसी तरीक़े से चाहे हमारे वर्कर्स हों, हमारे यूनियन लीडर्स हों, हमारे मैनेजमेंट हों, हमारे एम्पलॉईज़ हों और यह वही टीम है जिसने दो साल, तीन साल पहले अभूतपूर्व परफॉर्मेंस दी थी। क्यों इस प्रकार की सुस्ती आ गई है हम सब में, क्यों हम लोग कमज़ोर पड़ रहे हैं, हमारे रिश्ते नाते कहाँ ख़राब हो रहे हैं इस पर हम सबको गहराई से सोचना पड़ेगा। क्या हमारी क़ाबिलीयत में कुछ कमी है तो उसको ठीक किया जाए, आपको कुछ सहयोग चाहिए उसकी चर्चा कर ली जाए लेकिन अब देश की नज़र हमारे ऊपर पूरी तरीक़े से लगी हुई है, बैठी हुई है।

 

हम कैसे respond करते हैं इस चैलेंज को यह आज बड़ी चुनौती के रूप में हम सबके समक्ष विषय खड़ा है और मैंने आज आपके समक्ष भी रखा, हमारे परिवार भी यहाँ पर बड़े रूप में शामिल हैं इसमें हम सबको एक एक्स्ट्रा माइल जाना पड़ेगा उसमें परिवारों को भी थोड़ा सैक्रिफाइस करना पड़ेगा। हो सकता है हम सबको और जब मेहनत करनी पड़े तो परिवारों को भी उतना ही सैक्रिफाइस होता है और मैं दाद देता हूँ हमारे सभी परिवार के महिलाओं को, बच्चों को जिन्होंने हमारा कंधे से कंधा जुटाकर सहयोग किया है जब-जब चुनौती आयी है कोल इंडिया के ऊपर, हमारे साथ खड़े रहे हैं हमारे को उनका आशीर्वाद और सहयोग मिला है। सभी हमारी माताओं को, बहनों को, बच्चों को मैं नमन करता हूँ, धन्यवाद देता हूँ।

 

लेकिन इस चुनौती को हम आज पहली नवंबर से अपने-अपने कार्यक्षेत्र में लेकर जाएं। यह जो इनएफ्फिशिएंसी का टैग कई बार कोल के ऊपर लगता है उसको कैसे सुधारना इसके ऊपर हम सब विचार करें, आपस में चर्चा करें| मैं देख रहा हूँ हमारे यूनियन के भी वरिष्ठ साथी यहाँ पर मौजूद हैं, आपस में हम सब बैठें, एक दूसरे का दुख सुख समझें।

 

लेकिन instead of becoming a problem we will all have to become the solution to the problem and we will all have to participate as one family so that the country can see that whenever there is a challenge before us we will not be found wanting, we will be at the forefront to address the challenge. And I think our resolve today should be that in a time bound manner we will make this country free of imports and a self-sufficient nation providing for the needs of coal in the length and breadth of India working with the .…. and other ministries weather environment, forest, all of them to see how we can rapidly ramp up production, dispatch.

 

Work with technical institutes with IITs, ISM School of mines in Dhanbad to see how we can further improve quality of coal. Set up coal washeries, set up for facilities, improve levels of technology in our coal companies so that we do more scientific and efficient mining. Improve the working conditions of our workman so that they can improve productivity and not be dependent only on contractors to give us production.

 

It is a matter of shame that very often I have to hear that only contactor workmen will give us protection not our workmen. It is truly an unacceptable situation. And I would urge upon all my colleagues, union leaders also that they will have to talk to the workmen that this is the time that we will all have to stand up and face this challenge. After all today Coal India salaries are not low, wages are not low.

 

We have our very-very revered and veteran Chairman who lead Coal India in the early years as the first CMD of Coal India is our oldest family member here. Let us not let his sacrifices go waste. Let us not make him feel embarrassed at this age that I have not put in so many hours and put in so much effort to create a company like this. I know it’s a day when we should be rejoicing, we have a cultural show ahead of us and pardon me for my comments but this is certainly not what we are going to celebrate. We cannot be celebrating inefficiency.

 

Some of my colleagues told me we are at 10% growth, it’s because you’re base is low. For last few years you are not been growing beyond 2-2.5%. You have a lot to make up and I think the time has come that collectively we will have to change the paradigm, change the image of this company.

 

I have had to take some very unpleasant steps in the very recent past not that I am happy when we I take those steps but most of you have worked with me and if any of you doesn’t have that experience he can ask maybe Partha ji here, he has not worked with me but he’s seen my work closely or ask Saxena who is sitting here or some of our other colleagues who have worked with me that this type of a situation is certainly not going to be acceptable to and you will not find me wanting if it calls for serious action on anybody whatsoever.

 

So, my pardon the young girls probably introduced me with a lot of enthusiasm. I have a lot of good things to say but kindly consider all these good things and my speech as read. होता है ना पार्लियामेंट में की you lay the papers on the table and consider the speech as read. यह सब आपके पास छोड जाऊँगा you consider all this as read.

 

यह सब गुन-गान किया हुआ है, सब अच्छी-अच्छी चीज़ें लिखी हुई हैं पर असलियत तो वह है जो मैंने अभी आपको कही कि हमारे सामने बड़ी चुनौतियाँ हैं। इन चुनौतियों को हमें मीट करना है और हमारे में क्षमता है अगर हमारे में क्षमता नहीं होती तो मैं आपसे पूछता भी नहीं। अगर मुझे ज़रा भी डाउट होता चाहे मेरे कर्मचारियों पर, मज़दूरों पर, कामगारों पर, चाहे मेरी मैनेजमेंट पर, चाहे मुझे ज़रा भी डाउट होता जितने हमारी सब्सिडियरी में लोग देख रहे हैं अगर किसी पर भी डाउट होता तो शायद मैं इतना डिमांड नहीं करता आपसे।

 

मुझे पूरी आपकी क्षमता पर विश्वास है, मुझे शक है आपको आपकी क्षमता पर विश्वास है कि नहीं। और यह आत्मविश्वास आपको लाना पड़ेगा अपने आप में, यह कोई बाहर वाला आकर आपके अंदर आत्मविश्वास नहीं डाल सकता है।

 

हमारे पास यंगस्टर्स भी बहुत हैं मैनेजमेंट ट्रेनीज़ वगैरा, उनसे आइडियाज़ लीजिए वह आपको कुछ नए आइडियाज़ देंगे। फील्ड में जाकर देखिए और क्या कर रहे हैं। जब मैं ओवरबर्डन के फिगर देखता हूँ तो हैरान होता हूँ कैसी प्लानिंग कर रहे हो आप लोग। क्यों ओवरबर्डन surficial मैटर निकाला नहीं गया जब समय ठीक था। आख़िर मैं तो टेक्निकल आदमी नहीं हूँ मैं तो अच्छा भला चार्टर्ड अकाउंटेंट हूँ, फ़ाइनेंस का आदमी हूँ यह मेरा काम नहीं है लेकिन मेरे जैसा नॉन-टेक्निकल आदमी भी समझ सकता है कि जब तक आप efficiently overburden नहीं निकालोगे, कोल फ़ेसीज़ को नहीं खोलोगे, साइंटिफिकली जो भी आपको क्या कहते हैं उसको what do you call them? Benches, scientifically benches नहीं प्लान करोगे आख़िर हम सबका काम वही है ना माइनिंग इंजीनियरिंग करते हैं तो समस्या तो आनी है।

 

मैं समझता हूँ आज का दिन मेरे जाने के बाद आज ज़रूर राहत लेना, एन्जॉय करना म्यूज़िक को उसमें मुझे कोई आपत्ति नहीं है लेकिन रात को आज घर पर सब लोग हम रिफ्लेक्ट करें कि मेरी कॉन्ट्रिब्यूशन क्या होगी और जब individually तीन लाख लोग सोचेंगे कि मैं क्या करूँगा, चिंता मत करिए दूसरा क्या करेगा पूरे समय दूसरों पर मत नज़र रखिए अपने आप पर रखिए नज़र कि मैं क्या करूँगा, मैं क्या बदलाव लाऊँगा, मेरी ज़िम्मेदारी क्या है और जब तीन लाख लोग मेरी ज़िम्मेदारी पर उतर आएँगे कि मैं अपनी ज़िम्मेदारी निभाऊंगा तो दुनिया की कोई ताक़त नहीं है जो रोक सकती है हमारे को अपने लक्ष्य में कि हम भारत को आत्मनिर्भर बनाए। कोल इंडिया पूरे देश और विश्व को बताए की क्या होती है एक्स्ट्रा ऑड्रीनरी परफॉर्मेंस और वह एक्स्ट्रा आर्डिनरी परफॉर्मेंस कर कर हम देश और विश्व को एक संदेश दें कि हम सरकारी कंपनी हुए तो क्या हुआ हम सरकारी कंपनी होकर भी इतना अच्छा काम कर सकते हैं कि कोई प्राइवेट कंपनी हमारे सामने मुक़ाबला न कर पाए।

 

वास्तव में ऐसा समय शायद कभी भी कोल इंडिया के लिए नहीं आया होगा जब इतनी robust डिमांड है। यह तो ऐसा मौक़ा है जिसमें हम ऐसा कोल इंडिया को एस्टब्लिश कर सकते हैं कि महारत्न क्या हम विश्वरत्न बन सकते हैं। हम एक्सपोर्ट कर सकते हैं हमारा कोल, प्रॉसेस करकर एक्सपोर्ट कर सकते हैं, कैश बनाकर नए सेक्टरस में जा सकते हैं। और अब हमने तय करना चाहिए कि इसका अगला पड़ाव क्या होगा कोल इंडिया का।

 

फिर एक बार वह बिलियन टन का जो हमारा प्लान बीच में आधा-अधूरा रह गया, हमें लगने लगा कि जैसे कोयले की डिमांड कम हो गई है बिकेगा नहीं उसको फिर एक बार पुनर्जीवित किया जाए। एक टीम कमिटेड वे में लगे कि कैसे हम 1 बिलियन टन बना सकते हैं, बनाएँगे, क्या क्या क़दम उठाएंगे। हर एक जना ज़िम्मेदारियाँ बांटें।

 

आगे की सोच है क्या है अभी से प्लानिंग शुरू करें चाहे वह लैंड acquisition हो, एनवायरमेंटल क्लीयरेंसिज़ हों, फ़ॉरेस्ट अप्रूवलस हों, रेलवे लाइन नई लगाने की बात हो, अपने ख़ुद के वैगन्स वग़ैरह प्रोक्योर कर कर अपनी सेल्फ़ sufficiency उस दिशा में भी बढ़ाने की बात हो, अपने टेक्नोलॉजी लेवल्स को अपग्रेड करने की बात हो एक हॉलिस्टिक थिंकिंग से फिर से एक बार बैठें। हमारे सब यहाँ सीनियर्स हैं इनसे भी कोई चर्चा करें, कुछ सहयोग ज़रूरत लगे मिल सके तो हम इनकी कुछ ग्रुप या टीम बनाकर Partha ji you could help us take a little lead on that if I can request you.

 

देखें कि कैसे फिर एक बार ऐतिहासिक परफॉर्मेंस कोल इंडिया में हम दें और आज जो पूरे देश में बदलाव आया है, सोच नई सोच से देश चल रहा है उसमें कैसे कोल इंडिया का भी जो चरित्र है, कोल इंडिया का जो चाल है, कोल इंडिया का जो चेहरा है देश के सामने इसको कैसे हम रखेंगे। और मुझे याद है 2014 अगस्त सितंबर के बाद जब पहली बार यह one बिलियन टन का लक्ष्य के ऊपर चर्चा की थी और कहा था कि हम कोल में ऐसी वृद्धि करेंगे जो पहले कभी नहीं देखी गई हो और आपने कर कर भी दिखाई है, 9-9% ग्रोथ कर कर दिखाया है पहले, कोल सरप्लस सिचुएशन पर ले आए हो।

 

मुझे याद है उस टाइम पर हमने एक लक्ष्य निर्धारित किया था शायद उस लक्ष्य को हम सब भूल गए हैं, हम सब उस से थोड़ा दूर हो गई हैं। आप में से कुछ साथियों को शायद वह याद भी होगा दिल्ली में यह बैठक हुई थी रात के बहुत देर रात को मैंने एक विषय रखा था जो मैं आज फिर एक बार आपके सामने दोहराना चाहता हूँ। मैंने एक सवाल पूछा था और आज यहाँ पर उपस्थित सभी माता बहनें भी इसको ज़रा ग़ौर से सुनें मेरे परिवार के बच्चे भी जो यहाँ पर आए हैं वह भी ज़रा ग़ौर से सुनें।

 

मैंने एक सवाल पूछा था मेरे सब अधिकारियों को, उच्च स्तरीय अधिकारियों की बैठक थी would you prefer me to speak in English or Hindi, whatever. I had asked the question of my top management team that when you walk out of your house and walk on the streets if somebody wants to meet you and ask you what do you do and you answer I am a government servant. If he were to ask you where do you work, what work do you do and you would say that I work for Coal India Ltd. What is the expression that you will see on his face?

 

Will it be an expression of pride that wow you are working for a fantastic company, will it be an expression of respect thank you very much you are serving my nation well, will he look up to you and have in his heart a word of thank you and tell you thank you for all the good work that you are doing. Is that the expression that we will get if you go out right now in Salt Lake City and meet anybody on the street and tell him that we work for coal India Ltd. Is that the respect and expression that we get or will it be one of looking at you probably envy you

 

कि वह उनको अच्छी नौकरी मिली हुई है काम वाम तो ज़्यादा करना नहीं है he doesn’t have to work much he will get very high fat salaries.

 

Some people may have the envy, most people will have disdain. He is the person because of whom we have power shorts, he is the person because of whom Coal India’s productivity is amongst the lowest in the world, oh he works for a company which is all the time fighting for pay increases without corresponding improvement in productivity and performance, drawing fat salaries but not serving the nation.

 

We still have to import $20 billion, 1.25 लाख करोड़ का माल कोयला इंपोर्ट होता है, आज तो 1.5 लाख करोड़ हो गया है। He is the person because of whom our current account deficit is so high and and why the rupee weakens to Rs.75, Rs.74. After all if we stop importing this $20 billion we won’t need that foreign exchange, our rupee will strengthen and if the rupee strengthens mind you our cost of petrol and diesel will also fall and every citizen, every user in the country will thank you for it.

 

Now the choice is before us what do we want people to feel when we go out there and tell them I work for Coal India Limited. We all have to collectively decide, we all have to decide whether you want to be looked up with respect, you want to be looked up with joy, with gratitude, with happiness or you want to be looked up looked down upon with envy and disdain.

 

My apologies I am maybe speaking my mind but you speak your mind with people whom you believe are your own. I cannot say the same thing to some outsiders. मैं तो आपके साथ ही अपने दिल की पीड़ा बोल सकता हूँ ना, आप ही मेरे परिवार हो, आप ही मेरे परिवार के सदस्य हो तो मैं चाहूँगा कि इस पीड़ा को आप महसूस करें और हम सब यह प्रतिज्ञा लेकर जाएं कि हम काम भी सुधारेंगे, हमारी गुणवत्ता भी सुधारेंगे। Our quality will improve the work quality, will improve the work ethics, will improve our productivity and we will take it up as a mission that we will make this country self-sufficient in coal, we will revitalise Coal India Limited and this company.

 

It is not only the profit that we show please don’t draw satisfaction only from the fact that you are making profits, please draw satisfaction from the fact that you will become a self-sufficient nation, you will help India become self-sufficient, you will help every single home get 24×7 power, you will help the production of iron, steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium grow by leaps and bounds based on the production that we give in Coal India Limited and collectively we will work as a family in the spirit of togetherness, in the spirit of oneness to achieve these results.

 

And as I began, Kolkata is a beautiful place, it’s a beautiful city and this commitment coming out from Kolkata, from the city of Joy, from the city which was at one point of time the economic powerhouse of India, the city which had highest number of business and industrial establishments in the good old days. Coal India will lead this effort to bring back that joy, bring back that eminent, pre-eminent position to Kolkata once again.

 

We will show through our sheer performance, through dint of hard work, our commitment that a message …. from Kolkata will resonate the length and breadth of this country. And I urge all of you to participate in making this mission a success. I seek the blessings of all our elders who have assembled here with great joy and great passion and great enthusiasm, may not be happy to hear some of my words but I do hope that you will bless us in this mission and I do hope you will continue to mentor us, guide us, supporter us in these very critical times ahead. And I do hope mam and my young brothers and sisters I do hope as families also we will continue to receive your support, your encouragement to make this mission a grand success.

 

My greetings to all of you on the occasion of the 44th Foundation Day. We have just completed the joyous celebrations of Dussehra and Durga Puja. May Maa Durga give all of us the strength in this mission that we are setting forth from today. May Maa Durga bless all of us and our families in the years to come. May all of you have a joyous Deepavali but if possible not at the cost of production please. And one of the reasons I requested all the Ministry officials and all the CMDs to be at their workplaces because I wanted to give this message that work is worship. There can be no better celebration than at our workplace.

 

I believe all of this is hopefully being telecast to all the subsidiaries also. I want to thank all of them for accepting my request. I know it must have been very hurtful initially that the Foundation Day has always had all the CMDs here. Maybe it we have been very difficult to accept this request of mine but I am grateful to all of you for having accepted that request.

I hope it is taken whatever I have said is taken in the spirit in which I have said it. It is not a rancorous spirit, it is not an adversarial spirit.

 

रॉय साहब, पाण्डेय जी सभी मैं सब को देख नहीं पा रहा हूँ लाइट के गलेयर में बट आप सब से भी अनुरोध है कि यह मैसेज हर कर्मचारी, हर कामगार तक भी पहुँचे कि यह आज समय का बुलावा है देश और दुनिया देख रही है कि कोल इंडिया कैसे इस चुनौती का सामना करती है। और दीपावली आएगी, आगे और क्रिस्मस आएगी, नया साल आएगा इन सब के दौरान भी कोल इंडिया अपना काम निरंतर करता रहेगा, कोल इंडिया ओर ऊँचाई तक पहुँचेगा। इस दृढ़ संकल्प के साथ आज कलकत्ता से हम सब अपने-अपने काम में रवाना होंगे।

 

और मैं चाहूँगा कि वैसे तो चुनाव के दिन होंगे मैं शायद फॉर्मली उस समय आ नहीं पाऊँगा लेकिन जब 31 मार्च को यह वर्ष पूरा हो तो ऐसे आंकड़ों के साथ पूरा हो, ऐसे परिस्थिति निर्माण हो कि पूरा देश चौकं जाए कि क्या अद्भुत टीम है कोल इंडिया की, क्या अद्भुत परफॉर्मेंस दी है इस टीम ने, क्या अद्भुत काम कर कर दिखाया है पाँच महीने के भीतर ही कि एक समस्या जो दिख रही थी पहली नवंबर को वह पूरी तरीक़े से 31 मार्च तक हम एक बड़ा बदलाव कर कर दिखा सकें।

 

मैं मानता हूँ कि पूरे तरीक़े से आत्मनिर्भरता पाँच महीने में तो नहीं आएगी लेकिन फिर एक बार 31 मार्च के पहले कोई एक दिन हम पाँच महीने में मौक़ा न दें कि किसी को बोलना पड़े कि मेरे यहाँ कोयले की कमी है और 31 मार्च तक ऐसी प्रस्थिति निर्माण कर दें की फिर एक बार मुझे फ़ोन कॉल आने लग जाएं कि भैया और कोल मत भेजना अब हमारे पास रखने की जगह नहीं है।

 

 

बहुत-बहुत शुभकामनाएं।

मेरे सहयोगी श्री अश्विनी लोहानी जी, सभी बोर्ड के मेंबर्स, वरिष्ठ अधिकारी, हमारे रेल परिवार के सभी सहयोगी, मीडिया के मित्र, भाइयों और बहनों ।

आज भारत के लौह पुरुष सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल को शायद 70 साल बाद आज़ादी के सही मायने में श्रद्धांजलि देने के लिए रन फॉर यूनिटी में हम सुबह एकत्रित हुए हैं। आगे चलकर 10 बजे सन्माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी के कर कमलों द्वारा विश्व की सबसे ऊँची स्टैचू मूर्ति 182 मीटर की,182  meters,की जो शायद न भूतो न भविष्य के रूप में श्रद्धांजलि के तौर पर सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल को एक प्रकार से इतिहास में इम्मोर्टलाइज़ करने के लिए आज उसका अनावरण किया जाएगा माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी द्वारा, देश को समर्पित किया जाएगा।

और मैं समझता हूँ हम सबके लिए बहुत गर्व की बात है कि जो भारत की एकता के सूत्रधार हैं, 550 से अधिक छोटे-छोटे राज्य देश में फैले हुए थे उन सबको जोड़कर जो भारत को एक बनाया और मैं समझता हूँ भारत की एकता के लिए, भारत की अखंडता के लिए, हम सब को शांति मिले और शांति से भारत देश आगे प्रगति करे, तेज़ गति से विकास करे उसके लिए जो संकल्प सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल का था, उसके लिए जो सैक्रिफाइसिज़ सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल ने की चाहे वह अपने व्यक्तिगत पारिवारिक सैक्रिफाइस हो, अपने कारोबार की हो, अपने प्रोफ़ेशन की हो और फिर चाहे वह प्रधानमंत्री के पद का त्याग क्यूँ न हो सभी त्याग करते हुए सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल ने एक नई दिशा दिखाई देश को।

और मैं समझता हूँ यह सही मायने में आज जो नेशनल यूनिटी डे के रूप में कई वर्षों से हम मना रहे हैं लेकिन एक श्रद्धांजलि जो उनको मिलनी चाहिए थी, उनका नाम जो अमर रहना चाहिए था, जो एक प्रतीक के रूप में आज यह स्टैचू देश को इतने कम समय में, मात्र पाँच वर्षों में बनी है। और मैं नहीं समझता हूँ कि हम में से कोई भी रेलवे का कर्मचारी इस बात को नज़रअंदाज कर सकता है कि 182 मीटर की स्टैचू, इंजीनियरिंग मार्वल है यह। आप सब, हम सब बनाते हैं, इंजीनियरिंग के काफ़ी काम करते हैं लेकिन ऐसा इंजीनियरिंग मार्वल और बनाना आसान नहीं था। बनाने के समय कठिनाइयाँ बहुत आयी, उसको स्टेबल बनाना, सुरक्षित बनाना, शायद130-32 मीटर हाइट पर व्यूइंग गैलरी है 200 लोगों की। फ़ोटोज़ जो देखी हैं मैंने और कल टेलीविज़न पर बहुत ही सुंदर उसकी स्कल्पचर, उसका आर्किटेक्चर बना है।उनके जो शिल्पकार हैं उस स्टैचू के उनको अभी-अभी टैगोर अवार्ड से भी सम्मानित किया गया हाल ही में।

और मैं समझता हूँ जब हम आज यह रन फॉर यूनिटी में भाग लेंगे तो एक प्रकार से हम सबको स्मरण भी आएगा जो त्याग हमारे सभी नेताओं ने आज़ादी की लड़ाई में दी। माननीय प्रधानमंत्री कई बार कहते हैं कि हम में से अधिकांश लोग शायद आज़ादी के बाद पैदा हुए हैं तो हमें देश के लिए मरने का तो मौक़ा नहीं मिला लेकिन देश के लिए जीने का अवसर हम सबके पास है और उसमें देश के निर्माण करने का भी अवसर हम सबको मिला है। तो हम सब इस देश को आगे लेकर जाएं, इस देश के विकास और प्रगति के शिल्पकार बनें।

सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल ने देश को आज़ादी दिलाई। महात्मा गांधी जी के सहयोगी थे, निकट सहयोगी थे, श्रद्धालु थे उनके, उनके साथ कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर पूरी आज़ादी की लड़ाई लड़ी उन्होंने। और एक प्रकार से आज इस स्टैचू ऑफ़ यूनिटी के द्वारा सिर्फ़ एक उच्च महान जीवन को हम श्रद्धांजलि नहीं दे रहे हैं, इतिहास के पन्नों में भी और उनकी गुणगान हो, राष्ट्रीयता का जब भी एहसास हो तो सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल हम सब के स्मरण में आएँ। और एक प्रकार से आध्यात्मिक मूल्यों के भी सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल एक सिंबल रहे, एक प्रकार से उनका जीवन आध्यात्मिकता के साथ जुड़ा रहा।

और मुझे पूरा विश्वास है उनकी दूरदर्शी कि जब तक देश एक नहीं होगा, जब तक यह सब प्रिंसली स्टेट्स को हम जोड़कर भारत को एक नहीं बनाएँ उसका एहसास हम सबको है। और आप इमैजिन करिए हमारी रेलवे जैसी संस्था जो एक प्रकार से देश को जोड़ती है, पूरे देश भर में फैली हुई है, कश्मीर से कन्याकुमारी तक जाती है, ईस्ट और वेस्ट को जोड़ती है अगर इसको 550 प्रिंसली स्टेट्स के थ्रू जाना पड़ता, अगर इसको हर स्टेट की परमिशन ले लेकर गुज़रना पड़ता तो मैं नहीं समझता हूँ भारतीय रेल भी भारतीय रेल के रूप में काम कर सकती थी। तो हम सबके लिए ख़ासतौर पर रेल के सभी परिवार के सदस्यों के लिए जो अपने आप में देश को जोड़ने का एक बहुत महत्वपूर्ण काम करती है, सौभाग्य की बात है70 से अधिक स्थानों में आज रेलवे ने रन फॉर यूनिटी का कार्यक्रम रखा है।

प्रधानमंत्री जी ने कहा है जो खेले वह खिले, और यह कोई आज की सोच नहीं है। मुझे याद है आज भी 2013 में जब स्टैचू ऑफ़ यूनिटी की कल्पना की गई तब देश भर से लोहा इकट्ठा किया गया। देश के हर गाँव से लोहा इकट्ठा कर कर स्टैचू ऑफ़ यूनिटी में वह सम्मिलित हो और छः लाख गांवों का लोहा, किसी की आरी, किसी की जो हल होती है किसानों की, वास्तव में सरदार वल्लभ भाई पटेल पूरे जीवन किसानों के नेता रहे, किसानों ने अपने औज़ार में से कुछ न कुछ छोटा लोहे का हिस्सा दिया। और 2013 में मैंने बेंगलुरू में रन फॉर यूनिटी में भाग लिया था जब यह सब लोहा इकट्ठा होकर गुजरात भेजा गया था।

तो एक प्रकार से मात्र पाँच वर्षों में एक इतना बड़ा प्रकल्प तैयार कर कर भारत ने पूरे विश्व को संदेश दिया है कि हम सिर्फ़ अपने जो निर्माता हैं,अपने जो देश के वास्तव में हीरे हैं जिन्होंने इस देश को बनाया, इस देश को आज़ादी दी हम उनको सिर्फ़ याद स्मरण नहीं करते हैं, उस यादगार को इम्मोर्टलाइज़ करते हैं, इम्मेमोरेबल बनाते हैं। आगे की पीढ़ियाँ इसको देखकर इसको महसूस करेंगी उनके योगदान को और साथ ही साथ हम खेल को भी प्रोत्साहन देते हैं जो हम सबको तंदरुस्त रखता है, हम सबको आगे चलकर इस देश को और गौरवशाली बनाएगा।

यह रन फॉर यूनिटी में आप सबने सुबह-सुबह भाग लिया इसके लिए आप सब का तहे दिल से धन्यवाद करता हूँ। और मुझे पूरा विश्वास है आज का दिन भारत के इतिहास के पन्नों में स्वर्ण अक्षरों से लिखा जाएगा और आप सबका भी भाग लेना हम सबके लिए एक यादगार के रूप में 31 अक्टूबर 2018 जिस दिन स्टैचू फॉर यूनिटी देश को समर्पित हुई आगे चलकर शायद हम सब अपने बच्चों को, अपने ग्रैंड चिल्ड्रन को कभी याद दिलाएंगे कि हमने भी उसमें भाग लिया था। आज़ादी की लड़ाई में तो हम भाग नहीं ले पाए लेकिन आज़ादी की लड़ाई के शिल्पकार को श्रद्धांजलि सही रूप में देने के लिए हम सब भाग ले पाए यह हम सब का सौभाग्य है।

बहुत-बहुत धन्यवाद।