Opposition warns govt. on railway privatisation
Several Opposition leaders on Thursday cautioned against any move to privatise the Railways and demanded that the separate Railway Budget be restored. Members, including Supriya Sule of the NCP and Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena, however, acknowledged that stations had become cleaner in recent years. Taking part in a discussion on the demands for grants of the Ministry of Railways In the Lok Sabha, M.K. Raghavan (Congress) accused the BJP Centre of showing consistent apathy in the last five years with a high operating ratio for the Raliways, the worst in the last 10 years.
“This Budget is a call for privatisation and eventual selling off of railways which is the lifeline of the Indian people,” he said.
S.S. Palanimanickam (DMK) said the BJP government is moving towards privatisation and demanded separate Budget to pay proper attention to demands of various railway zones be restored.
Saugata Roy (Trinamool) too hit out at the privatisation and attacked Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for the move to merge all railway services.
Mr. Roy also said the Union government is ‘fooling’ people in the name of bullet trains, saying they are unlikely to actualise in India. “Even if they do run, they will travel at half the speed of a similar train in Japan.”
Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) said the platforms are cleaner now but the quality of food in the Rajdhani train is poor.
Tapir Gao (BJP) said the Railways has developed so many facilities that its services are now comparable to those offered by airlines.
Before the start of the discussion, Speaker Om Birla asked the House if it would work on the weekends but the Opposition declined saying the session can be extended.
