The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday said that the NDA government’s Railway Budget “lacks vision” and has nothing in it for the “aam aadmi”. It said that the key problems affecting the commuter had not been dealt with in it.
The Rail Budget presented by Suresh Prabhu is neither “reformist” nor “populist” and is an empty bag for the “aam aadmi”, the party said.
“A closer look at the Rail Budget shows it has nothing for the aam aadmi . It lacks vision and reads like a bland statement of accounts and jargon.
“Railways is the biggest employer in the country and Mr. Prabhu’s budget even disappoints the employees of his own organisation,” the party said in a statement here.
It claimed that although the rail minister had announced that Rs. 12,500 crore would be spent on passenger amenities, he was silent as to what kind of improvements were to be provided.
Further, there was little emphasis on mitigating defective planning, engineering faux pas and poor enforcement of contracts, the party said.
“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 fixing these large-scale problems faced by the railways,” AAP said.
It also averred that the increase in freight charges would throw the Railways out of competition and lead to the movement of freight traffic towards other forms of surface transportation.
“Despite having a clear single-party majority in Lok Sabha, the Railway Minister has disappointed the country with his status quoist budget speech, which lacks any direction,” the statement said.
AAP, however, stated that it agreed with the Railway Minister’s decision to not announce any new trains in haste. — PTI