Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda has stressed the need for innovation in his ministry.

Addressing the BJP workers during his maiden visit to his native district after assuming charge as Railway Minister here on Saturday, he said rather than focusing on populist measures such as creation of new divisions, railway stations or announcing new railway lines, the need of the hour is to bring innovation in railways.

Quoting the example of golden quadrilateral highway project of the NDA Government led by AB Vajpayee, he said the project played a major role in the development process in the country. In the same way, Indian Railways should also be synonymous with development, he said.

Huge task ahead

Stating that he has a huge task ahead, he said he may require a month to understand the sector.

Gowda said that he would not assure that he would achieve all his goals in a month or a year. But he would show the result during the five-year period. Just like the Railways that works 24X7, his motto is to work continuously for the development of the sector, he said.

Thanking Narendra Modi for selecting him (Gowda) for the job, he said his endeavour is to live up to the expectations of the Prime Minister.

Gowda said that in his recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he had brought many issues and problems related to the ministry. To this, Modi suggested him to focus on good governance. Modi had told him that good governance itself will solve many problems, Gowda said.