Gandhinagar: Sam Pitroda, advisor to Prime Minister, on Tuesday said railways could add as much as two per cent to country's GDP if its operations are revamped and modernised.
"Railways done right could add 2 per cent to GDP. It is used by common people, it is used to haul coal for our power plants...railways are the real reserve of this country,"
Pitroda, who is advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on public information, infrastructure and innovation, told reporters on sidelines of an event in Gandhinagar.
The Sam Pitroda committee report has projected an investment requirement of $ 200 billion to modernise Indian railways.
The committee included experts like Deepak Parekh, Maya Verma, Rajiv Lal, who spent four months together, to put together a plan which they felt was right for the people of India, he said.
"As experts, we have put together a plan which we felt that was right for the people of India, which required investments of $ 200 billion," he said.
"We felt that without this kind of investment you cannot modernise railways, and without modernisation you can't ensure safety," Pitroda said.
"In the past we have not paid attention to railways, we have looked at incremental changes in it only. Now, we have thought of a generational change, so we have submitted the report and now the government has to deal with it," he said.
Meanwhile, a team led by Sam Pitroda is working to prepare first draft policy on innovation, which is expected to be out in next 3-4 months.
"I, believe we need a new policy on innovation, so our team is working on a first draft policy on innovation, these are all the new things we need in 21st century. I expect the draft to be out in next 3-4 months," Pitroda said, replying to a query.
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