Rs 865 cr spent on construction of rail bridges in Apr-Oct

Railways Ministry today said Rs 865 crore have been spent on construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs)/Road Under Bridges (RUBs) during April to October this year.
The total allocation of construction of ROBs/RUBs for the current fiscal is Rs 1,787 crore of which Rs 865 crore has been spent, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said in Rajya Sabha.
He said that to expedite construction of ROBs/RUBs on the National Highway corridors, Railway has signed an agreement with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, the entire responsibility for construction of ROBs/RUBs on NH corridor will devolve to the Road Ministry/NHAI.

Prabhu also said after signing of the MoU the time period for sanctioning of projects would reduce to 60 days while earlier it used to take anything between one year to two-and-half years.
Meanwhile, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said government was committed to ensure cyber security in the country and was also considering to develop Indian server.

He said in past several attempts of cyber attack have been successfully dealt with.
He further said apart from illiteracy, other impediments hindering growth of internet/broadband services in the country, include low PC penetration, lack of local content, poor power supply and high back haul cost.

Prasad said government has launched 'Digital India' programme with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy.
India would soon become home to second largest Internet subscriber base only after China. The base is likely to increase to 30 crore by December from 25.44 crore at September end.