"Matter of great pride and joy," Railways Minister says on Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India], January 10 (ANI): Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology, expressed his pride and honour on Thursday after meeting delegates from across the globe at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Bhubaneswar.
Vaishnaw said that the ministers held a meeting on the sidelines of the event. They discussed a plan of investment wherein the Railways would invest Rs 73,000 crores in Odisha.
"It is a matter of great pride and joy that the delegates from all over the world are participating in the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in Bhubaneshwar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen the perfect place for organising this convention, that is, Bhubaneshwar," he told ANI.
The Minister also detailed that in the meeting, which lasted for an hour and a half, they discussed all the nitty-gritty of the investment.
"Today, along with Odisha Chief Minister, Madan Mohan Majhi, we had a meeting, where we discussed in detail, a plan of investment of Rs 73,000 crores by the Railways in Odisha. The details of the railways were discussed for one and a half hours. Which, one by one, the details were discussed on the projects, where land acquisition needs to be expedited, forest approval needs to be expedited, and at a few places, the minister's insistence that it would be better to change the alignment. All that was discussed," he said.

Discussed all ₹73,000 crore railway projects in Odisha with CM @MohanMOdisha Ji and explored plans to establish Bhubaneswar as an IT hub. pic.twitter.com/qjEQy94oUh

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 9, 2025

Vaishnaw said that in the meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a decision to transform Odisha into a significant IT hub.
They would soon hold a conference called 'Uttakarsh Odisha' in this regard.
"And today a very big decision was taken by the PM to make Odisha a very big IT hub. In the next two to three years, how to bring the IT industry to Odisha, and how to make an effort for it, we discussed this in detail with the PM today, the Chief Secretary was also involved in this, and the IT Secretary was also involved. We discussed this in detail, and very soon, the investment in Odisha conference is going to be held here, titled 'Uttakarsh Odisha'. There will be a big announcement on how to bring the IT industry to Odisha. For the youth in Odisha, new opportunities have been created in the semiconductor field, in electronics, in IT, IoT, machine learning, and Industry 4.0. How all these new opportunities have been created for the youth of Odisha. For that, the CM insisted a campus of the Nihillet University, be built in Odisha," he said.
Vaishnaw also spoke about discussions on ways to connect Odisha with other tourist places.
"I requested the Chief Minister to select a land parcel in Bhubaneshwar and give it to him. So that a world-class university can be established in Odisha. Also, we discussed how to connect all the places of tourism to Odisha, and how to connect with railways so that people from Odisha attend the Mahakumbh," he said.
The Minister said that on the sidelines of PBD, they got to see the great vision PM Modi has for the state.
"Thus, on the sidelines of the PBD, we could see the vision PM Modi has for Odisha. Today, the Prime Minister has taken a new initiative in which the Indian diaspora can see all the areas of Indian culture. So, a traveller trip for travellers has started today," he said.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention is the flagship event of the Government of India that provides an important platform to connect and engage with the Indian diaspora and enable them to interact with each other. The 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention is being organised in partnership with the State Government of Odisha from January 8 to 10 in Bhubaneswar. (ANI)