Rail Budget debate in Rajya Sabha: Members want safety, amenities

New Delhi: Members from various parties on Monday voiced concern in Rajya Sabha over various aspects concerning the railways, particularly safety and security and lack of facilities and timeliness and asked the government to rectify it. These issues were raised by members while participating in a debate on Rail Budget during which Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu also came in for praise for "withstanding the pressures of populism."

Pressing for professional and profitable functioning of the Indian Railways, KN Balagopal CPI(M) said the Accounting System must be revamped. He urged the railways to improve security for the protection of women in trains.

Opposing PPP model in railway network, he said, "It is public for private benefit." Rajpal Singh Saini (BSP) and AN Swamy (Independent) raised concerns about poor amenities of railways. NCP leader and former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel complimented Prabhu saying he was known as a "no-nonsense" minister even in his earlier stint as a Union Minister.

Showering praise, Patel said he had not seen a budget which had withstood the pressures of populism. The NCP leader expressed concern at the "alarming" fiscal health situation of the railways and suggested improving the last mile connectivity in evacuation of coal as Railways can play a huge role in improving power production.

Patel also emphasised on having multi-modal connectivity in Indian cities linking Airport, railways and metros. "Though unfortunately this has not happened till now, if our cities have to become smart cities, this has to be accomplished," Patel said. Noting that China had built a vast rail network all across Tibet, he said India too should look at expanding its rail network.

Patel said the rail line between Gondia to Jabalpur can be made broad guage from the present narrow gauge, a demand which found support in JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav. Ashok Ganguly (nominated) said it was a refreshing change that the minister had not promised to connect every hamlet. He favoured financial discipline and transparency in Railways.

MP Achuthan (CPI) expressed opposition to attempts to get Foreign Invetsment or PPP Projects, saying Railways should try to tap Public sector Financial Institutions instead. He also expressed concern at the huge number of vacancies in Railways.

Husain Dalwai (Congress) stressed the importance of Railways in infrastructure sector while saying that vacancies to the tune of 2,25,000 was too huge a figure. Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP) congratulated the rail minister and suggested that like airlines, the national flag could be painted on rail engines.

Khanna wanted the government to take action on grievances registered in the complaint book and instill sense of responsibility in railway employees to provide better services to passengers. Making his debut speech, Neeraj Shekhar (SP) said he does not wish to oppose the Budget but wants the government to focus on improving the status and services of existing trains.

Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, said no new trains were announced but all facilities are given to Maharasthra. Highlighting poor services at railways, he said catering service has deteriorated in last one year. He said no effort has been made to improve speed of the trains and not much progress has been made in electrification or doubling of lanes.

He said the government, rather than focusing on improving the current status of trains, is only talking about launching bullet trains without clear knowledge of how the resources of Rs 60,000 crore would be arranged for this project. Shekhar questioned why the government is planning to launch bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai and not other cities.

"If we can have world class airport, why cannot we have world class railways," he said, while raising concern about pending projects and little compensation given to accident victims. Supporting the PM's cleanliness campaign, Shekhar wished to know if the government has plans for 'Clean Railway' and how it would arrange funds for this.

Viplove Thakur (Congress) said the Budget was not for 'aam aadmi' but for corporates who do not travel in trains. The government should aim at bullet trains after addressing major issues concerning the existing trains. "India does not mean Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Think of other states. Develop all states uniformly," she said, adding that the government has made tall promises without knowing how to mobilise resources will be mobilised. The government will survive on loans, she added.

CK Gohel (BJP) said the government has not made false promises and had not announced new trains as it wanted to complete pending projects. He suggested the closure of unmmaned crossings to avoid accidents and special schemes for employees of railways.

Derek O'Brien (Trinamool Congress) appreciated the Railway Minister for giving credit in his budget speech to the party chief and former Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee and said he supported some portions which had been "copied" from Banerjee's Vision 2020 document.

On this, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said, "She (Banerjee) talked, we are implementing." Attacking the BJP-led government for downsizing allocation for West Bengal to execute railway projects, the TMC leader said clearing of existing projects would be "very difficult."

The government is focussing on "Look East", but the allocation for his state appeared to be "Bluff East", he said, adding that last year the allocation was Rs 5000 crore which has been reduced this year to between Rs 2000-3000 crore. He also sought revamping of the "antiquated" accounting system of railways, based on a 95-year-old system which came into existence during the British regime in 1921.

Pointing out that financial viability was important, he said the railways should focus on 96 per cent of passengers who do not commute by premium trains like Rajdhani services.

Emphasising that the railways should not compete with roadways and instead partner with the latter, O'Brien said the railway minister must focus on allowing small consignments. Attacking the BJP-led government for downsizing the allocation for West Bengal to execute railway projects, the MC leader said clearing existing projects would be "very very difficult" for the state government.

"Last year (the allocation) was Rs 5000 crore and this year it has been reduced anywhere between Rs 2000 and Rs 3000 crore," he said adding that the government was focusing on "Look East" but the allocation for his state appears to be "Bluff East."

Interestingly, TMC's arch rival CPI(M) took a leaf out of Brien's speech as its member Balagopal demanded revamp of the nearly a century old Account System in the railways. Earlier, terming the railway budget as a budget of privatisation, JD(U) member KC Tyagi attacked the Centre saying "good days have come for privatisation."

There would be a situation where the Northern Railways will be for Reliance, Konkan Railways for Adani and Southern Railways for Ambani, if the Government continues with its policy of privatising railways, he alleged.

Sukhdeo Singh Dhindsa (SAD) demanded dedicated rail lines for thermal power plants. Parimal Nathwani (Ind) stressed the need for setting up a tariff commission for Railways for fixing tariff on par with Power and Telecom Regulatory Authorities. Nathwani also demanded new trains for Jharkhand besides 100 km track fencing near Pipavav in Gujarat to protect asiatic lions.

D Raja (CPI) sought augmenting railway network in southern states including Kerala besides reservations to SC/ST and OBC categories in catering. V Hanumantha Rao (Cong) demanded new trains for Telangana besides a Telangana Express. Meghraj Jain (BJP) committed to take up work for installing water purifiers at five selected stations including Bhopal at a cost of Rs 5 lakh each from his MP fund. He urged the Railways Minister to ensure drinking water facilities for the poor at all railway stations.

Joy Abhraham (KCM) rued that Kerala was again neglected in the budget and at the same time demanded ensuring sugar-free tea and coffee in all trains given the high number of diabetic patients in the country. Md Nadimul Haque (Trinamool) stressed the need for safety measures in trains saying that barely Rs 2,200 crore provision for it in the Railways Budget was inadequate. He also said that falling investment in railways would impact the country's GDP by 2 per cent.

Sanjay Sinh (Congress) demanded from the Railway Minister to ensure more facililities in sleeper classes instead of taking care of only those who travelled in airconditioned classes. He also questioned that what qualitiative changes have been brought in the system to provide facilities at par with developed nations like Europe, US and Japan as the government always cited examples of these countries.