Parliament passes Gati Shakti Bill

New Delhi: Parliament Monday passed a bill to convert the National Rail and Transportation University, a deemed-to-be university, into Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, an autonomous central institution.

The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, which also seeks to expand the scope of the University from beyond the railways to cover the entire transport sector to support the ambitious growth and modernisation in the field, was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion.

The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote. It was cleared by the Lok Sabha last week, also by a voice vote.

Union Railways and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw responded to the debate on the bill on Monday in the Upper House.

"Railways' national training institute is established in Gujarat. This university covers the entire transport sector. Railway plays an important role in that," Vaishnaw said.

He said several campuses of the university will be set up in various parts of the country and children will be able to take admission.

The minister said the bill has provision to use the existing training infrastructure.

He said the railways, metro and transportation sector is a very complex sector and many disciplines including mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, signalling and civil come together to run the railway system.

"This is a public university. Already, the Ministry of Railways has made provision of Rs 166 crore in the budget plus there is another budget being worked out for the construction of the building. This is going to be a publically funded university," Vaishnaw said.