Mamata Banerjee continued the tradition followed by Railway Ministers in blatantly promoting her home state of West Bengal in the Rail Budget presented in parliament yesterday. West Bengal received a slew of sops aimed at the masses in view of the imminent elections.
The concessions doled out to the state are:
1. Four expansion projects for Kolkata Metro and extension of suburban services
2. Kolkata is one among two proposed cities to have double-decker trains
3. 11 out of 94 ‘adarsh’ stations from West Bengal
4. Introduction of Sanskriti Express to mark 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore
5. Setting up Tagore museums at Howrah and Bolpur
6. Setting up of wagon and axle factories
7. Introduction of new trains in the region
8. Setting up of drinking water plants and multi-specialty hospitals
However, the budget is not without vision either. By taking into account the present delicate economic scenario of the country, the passenger and freight fares were not raised. In fact, the freight fares were lowered by Rs.100 per wagon for food grains and kerosene.
Banerjee announced a number of projects in the Budget, for which finance is still a question mark. She justified these projects by asking, “Should commercial viability be the only criterion to judge this need of connectivity? Or, should social responsibility be an important consideration? I prefer the latter. Our objective is inclusive growth.”
Banerjee ruled out complete privatization, but said that the PPP-model (Private Public Partnership model) is the need of the hour. However, she clarified that Railways would remain a government organization.
The Minister referred to Vision 2010, a whitepaper submitted in Parliament, detailing the Railway’s progress for the next ten years. According to this, Railways plans to add 25,000km of new track and acquire 18,000 wagons. This looks tall compared to the present rate of 180km of new track a year.
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Prime Ministers over years have turned a blind eye to Railway ministers showing undue favours to home states. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee have taken this to extremes to the detriment of other Indian states. It’s plain economics that when resources are limited then favouring one region or sector or people will deprive rightful due of other regions or people.The problem is the states of Bihar and West Bengal are so lethergic with a strong attitude for anti-development , many of the projects may never see the light. What’s the point in proposing a coach building factory in West Bengal if it’s going to take ten years for the production to start whereas the same factory if built in more progressive Tamil Nadu or Gujarat can produce rail coaches in two years time at cheaper cost. Many of the small towns where Mamata Banerjee propose to build world class train stations do not even have schools or hospitals of Indian standards, let along world standards. The sooner Mamata Banerjee gets elected in state elections the better for the country, I hope the next Railway Minister cancels the wasteful expenditure on the rail projects in West Bengal and allocates to more needy regions. More importantly, let’s hope the next Railway minister doesn’t follow Lalu’s and Mamata’s footsteps.
Hi…. sir i amit srivastava
Again a railway minister has baised decision at the time of economic development..there are many states those need to be get attetation like jharkhand, chhattisgarh who has natural resources..they should also be taken care..Orrisa , gujrat are having good development they must be consider as a wheel of developing economy..Janta aahar failed..people security is going down..still rush on many lines… …Not a good budget…”Baatein badi aur Kaam chote”