Reacting up on the Rail Budget, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday, said that the Budget presented by railways minister Suresh Prabhu in the Lok Sabha was neither reformist nor populist, offering but an empty bag for the aam aadmi. Though Prabhu has announced that Rs 12,500 crore will be spent on passenger amenities, he has kept mum on the kind of improvement to be provided within these amenities.
“A closer look at the Rail Budget shows that it has nothing for the aam aadmi. It lacks vision and reads like a bland statement of accounts and jargons. Indian Railways is the largest employer of the country and Prabhu’s Budget even disappoints the employees of his own organisation. Increase in freight charges will throw the railways out of competition and will lead to the flight of freight traffic towards other forms of surface transport. Despite having a clear single party majority in the Lok Sabha, the Railways Minister has disappointed the country with his status quoist Budget speech, which lacks direction,” said AAP in a press statement.
The party said that it agrees with Prabhu’s decision of not announcing any new train in haste, though his roadmap for the safety and modernisation of railways remains unclear. This budget did not address several institutional defects nor did it put forward any long-term solutions to solve them.
“Thousands of crores are lost every year by the railways due to administrative delays, payment non-recoveries, and irregular application of railway freight rules and irregular grants of trainload rates. There were no concrete measures to show the government’s commitment to fix these large-scale problems faced by the Indian Railways,” said the party statement.
“A closer look at the Rail Budget shows that it has nothing for the aam aadmi. It lacks vision and reads like a bland statement of accounts and jargons. Indian Railways is the largest employer of the country and Prabhu’s Budget even disappoints the employees of his own organisation. Increase in freight charges will throw the railways out of competition and will lead to the flight of freight traffic towards other forms of surface transport. Despite having a clear single party majority in the Lok Sabha, the Railways Minister has disappointed the country with his status quoist Budget speech, which lacks direction,” said AAP in a press statement.
The party said that it agrees with Prabhu’s decision of not announcing any new train in haste, though his roadmap for the safety and modernisation of railways remains unclear. This budget did not address several institutional defects nor did it put forward any long-term solutions to solve them.
“Thousands of crores are lost every year by the railways due to administrative delays, payment non-recoveries, and irregular application of railway freight rules and irregular grants of trainload rates. There were no concrete measures to show the government’s commitment to fix these large-scale problems faced by the Indian Railways,” said the party statement.