Cabinet clears long-term leasing of railways' land, 300 cargo terminals to be developed in 5 years

The Union Cabinet has approved a policy for long-term leasing of Indian Railways' land to implement the PM Gati Shakti framework, central minister Anurag Thakur announced on Wednesday. He said 300 cargo terminals will be developed in the next 5 years.

The PM Gati Shakti is a digital platform to bring 16 ministries, including railways, civil aviation, shipping, and road transport, together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects. The plan was launched in October 2021.

Stating the benefits of the policy, the government said the move will help increase railways' modal share in freight transportation and reduce logistics costs of the industry. It also said that the revised land policy will bring more revenue to railways and create 1.2 lakh jobs. The policy will be implemented in the next 90 days.

Earlier, the term for leasing of railways' land was five years. This has now been extended to 35 years, in a bid to provide sufficient time for investors to create infrastructures. 

The Cabinet has also approved the launch of a new scheme for setting up PM-SHRI schools (PM ScHools for Rising India), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Modi on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.

Under the initiative, more than 14500 schools will be upgraded and developed. The aim of these schools will not only be qualitative teaching, learning, and cognitive development but also to create holistic and well-rounded individuals equipped with key 21st-century skills, the education minister had said in a statement on September 5.