Railway Budget- Counter view
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
“The Railway Budget 2008-09, which is the last Railway budget of the UPA government is purported to be a ‘please all’ budget but all that it has done is to please the minister himself immensely,” AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa said in a statement .
while the budget made provision for adding new railway lines, doubling of lines and gauge conversion projects, it was highly disappointing that no announcement was made with regard to new routes for connecting the coastal districts of Southern Tamil Nadu
The BJP on Tuesday criticised the Railway Budget 2008, terming it ‘disappointing’ and noting that the announcements made for reduction in fares were just an ‘eyewash’.
“The Railway Budget presented by Lalu Prasad is disappointing. Members from various states made noise and walked out, which shows that the hopes of all the states turned into disappointment,†BJP spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters in New Delhi.
Calling the reduction in fares an ‘eyewash’, Malhotra claimed that the expenses for the passengers would go up through increase in the charges for food, reservation, cancellation and other amenities
“People are being cheated. Passenger trains are being re designated as super fast trains. The coaches would remain the same but the fares would go up,†he said.
“This is ‘jaadu-tona’ (magic trick). People cannot see, but they will have to pay more now. Never before has so much burden been put on the people,†Malhotra said.
The chamber of commerce coimbatore: we are quite disappointed that no mention has been made in the budget for introduction of an exclusive night train between Coimbatore and Bangalore and trains between Coimbatore and East Coast cities of Tamil Nadu.”
Expressing concern that gauge conversion of Coimbatore-Dindigul segment has not found a place in the budget, the chamber appealed to the Union Railway Minister not to neglect this industrial city, which is the second largest revenue earning city in the State.
BJP National Committee member S.R. Seghar and State convenor R. Kalyanasundaram said there were no announcements on the long-pending demands such as Coimbatore - Bangalore overnight express train and additional train to Chennai. Similarly the budget lacked any mention about allocations for the Coimbatore North Junction - Irugur railway line doubling and for the upcoming railway division at Salem. “There was no mention on improving passenger amenities at Coimbatore Junction.” With the budget having no focus on development, the announcement of bringing down the passenger tariff by Re 1 was only an attempt to divert the attention. The mere announcement to observe the year 2007-08 as cleanliness year would serve no purpose without addressing the problems, they said.
The trade and business community in Salem expressed their disappointment over the Railway budget for not specifying the fund allocation and other relevant plans for the Salem Railway Division.
Jaya news and Jaya plus are highlighting the failure to include south Tamilnadu in the railway bonanza. No doubling of lines and no new trains for the south. Even Sixty years after independence, Tamilnadu is still having meter gauge. It said. In spite of 13 ministers from the state and also one in railways, they could not get funds for this they complained.
The Tamil Nadu State Rail Users’ Welfare Association noted that the announcement that nine new trains would be operated in Tamil Nadu did not convince the commuters. Of the proposed new trains, at least four were already running on the metre gauge and these included the Chennai-Rameswaram, Chennai-Tiruchi, Villupuram-Mayiladuthurai and Varanasi-Rameswaram trains.
Because of the gauge conversion works, these trains had been suspended and the restoration of services on metre gauge could not be claimed as introduction of new trains.
It further said Union Minister of State for Railways R.Velu had repeatedly told reporters that double-track facility would be provided on the 270-km Villupuram-Dindigul sector.
Piecemeal work
But, the budget was silent on this aspect and hence, the commuters were disappointed.
The gauge conversion work was being done in bits and pieces and therefore, there was uncertainty over the completion of the project on schedule, the association said.
Besides the cost over-runs, the delay would also cause inconvenience to the travellers.
The budget did not make any mention about the need for speedy completion of the gauge conversion works.
The association said that the Vriddhachalam-Salem passenger had been running with poor complement of passengers.
Ever since the gauge conversion work was taken up, Cuddalore was cut off from rail connectivity.
Response from Chief Minister
The announcement on survey for a railway line between Karaikudi and Kanyakumari, via Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin is a scheme which would benefit the coastal areas of south Tamil Nadu,”
last year’s railway budget, Tamil Nadu got Rs 1,075 crore for various schemes, but this year it had been hiked to Rs 1,327 crore.
Several new trains were sanctioned to Tamil Nadu and of the 94 over bridges proposed this year in the budget, 25 were for Tamil Nadu, he said.
