Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the interim rail budget prior to general elections amid chaos. Union Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, on February 13 had presented the budget highlighting the achievements of Indian railways under UPA regime.
Amidst debate and uproar, the members of parliament in Lok Sabha passed the interim railway budget, including the allocation proposal of Rs. 10,807 crore for funding various ongoing railway projects and fulfilling the recommendations of Sixth Pay Commissions with voice vote.
The leaders of opposition parties, including Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), protested the budget alleging railway minister to hike the fares from ‘backdoor’ using ‘tatkal quota’ system while the leaders of Biju Janta Dal (BJD) walked out from the House accusing government to ignore the Orissa state.
The Minister, on the other hand, said that railway fares have been brought down in all classes as Indian Railways has registered whooping Rs.90,000-crore profit in last five years.
Despite declining the budgetary support from 53% to 29% since 2004, Railway has raised investment funds in its various projects from Rs.13,000-crore in 2004 to Rs.37,000-crore in 2008. Railways has injected Rs.20,000-crore fund in various projects only from its internal sources.
Responding over the security measures, Lalu said that in UPA regime, the rail accidents have come down from 400 in 2004 to 195 in 2008; however, ministry is considering to beef it up.
For further strengthening the security of railways and their properties, we have proposed to recruit 22,000 additional personnel in Railway Protection Force (RPF). The creation of battalions of Special Protection Force and acquiring of 3,000 AK-rifles have also been proposed in this interim budget, said Lalu Yadav.
All railway stations in four major metro cities along with 140 other railway stations across the country have been spotted as sensitive stations viewing the present terrorism scenario, while government has also proposed to take extra measures, including strict access control, installation of Close Circuit Tele Visions (CCTVs), setting up facility for detection and disposal of explosives and passenger and baggage checking on the railway stations, he added.
On the issues of recruitment, he said that nearly 20,000 vacancies have been filled during his regime.
The railway minister also announced the launching of some new trains and increasing the frequency in number trains and extending the services of a few. Two long-distance ones would connect Thiruvananthapuram with Mumbai and Bilaspur; while on responding the demand of BJP leader Advani to begin ‘Gharib Rath’ between his constituency Gandhinagar and Delhi, Prasad announced to pass the two trains - Ahmedabad-Haridwar Mail and Mumbai-Jaipur Gharib Rath via Gandhinagar.
Moreover, a rail coach factory would also be established in Palghat region of Kerala, he announced.
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