Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan speaking to Saurabh Sharma of ETV Bharat while travelling on Vande Bharat Express at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu): Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Tirunelveli-Chennai Vande Bharat Express, the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Tamilisai Soundararajan, on Sunday speaking to ETV Bharat said, "People are enjoying the train travel and thanking the Prime Minister for making it possible. At the same time, I also hail from Tamil Nadu and was born and brought up in the State. Hence, I am enjoying train travel and it's a significant development. "Earlier it was assumed that the southern states were being neglected, but that has changed after BJP came to power at the Centre and Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister," said the LG.
On the North-South connectivity, the Lieutenant Governor in her remarks highlighted that "Since I am also from Tamil Nadu, I am of the opinion that BJP government has strived for the development of the southern region. The benefits of Vande Bharat Express not only go to the people of Tamil Nadu, but also to other people, including pilgrims, who arrive here, to visit Rameshwaram." Apart from that trade, technology and others will be developed with the inauguration fo Vande Bharat Express.
It may be recalled that PM Modi flagged off nine trains via video conferencing, taking the total number of semi-high-speed trains to 34. The Prime Minister said the Vande Bharat Express trains being launched today will significantly improve connectivity and boost tourism across the country. The nine trains will provide faster connectivity across 11 states -- Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
