Piyush Goyal takes charge as Minister of Railways;Channabasappa takes charge as Minister of State

NEW DELHI: Piyush Goyal took over as the Minister of Railways in Rail Bhavan here. In addition to Railways, he has also been assigned the portfolio of Minister of Commerce and Industry.nnSuresh Angadi Channabasappa, new Minister of State of Railways, Shri V.K.Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board & other Board Members were also present on this occasion.nnSpeaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Goyal said, ?Under the able leadership of Narendra Modi, in last 5 years, a series of transformational steps have been taken in Passenger services and various aspects of Railways. In next five years, the focus will be to augment Railways with high speed, swift improvements in passenger convenience so that the entire experience of train journey and freight movement maybe further enhanced. We will work with same verve and enthusiasm to improve Railways.?nnDuring Goyal?s previous tenure as Minister of Railways & Coal, Indian Railways have witnessed a series of reforms. Indian Railways achieved best ever safety figures. India became Power & Coal surplus for the first time ever. Also transformative growth in Power resulted in net capacity addition of renewable energy which exceeded that of conventional power while also achieving record low tariff in this sector.nnChannabasappa, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, is elected from Belgaum in 17th Loksabha elections. He has taken the charge as Minister of State of Railways.nnHe was born to Somawwa and Chanabasappa Angadi and completed his graduation from S.S.S. Samithi College of commerce in Belgaum. Later, he also graduated in Law from the prestigious Raja Lakhamgouda Law College, Belgaum.nnA member of Bharatiya Janata Party, he became the vice president of the party’s Belgaum district unit in 1996. He continued in that office till 1999. In 2001 he was nominated as the president of the district unit and continued to hold that post until he was nominated as the party’s candidate for the Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency in 2004. He was re elected to a second term as Member of Parliament in the 2009 General Elections. He was elected for a third consecutive term in 2014.