As many as 20 MPs from Bihar found to their dismay that the Railways had not provided an AC First Class coach in the Patna-Delhi Rajdhani Express for which they had confirmed tickets. Also, the train arrived so late that they missed the better part of Parliament's proceedings on Wednesday.
Out of 26 MPs with confirmed tickets, the railways could accommodate only six with their spouses in AC1 coach. The rest were made to travel in AC 2 and some of their attendants were left with no option but to accept AC3.
The worst part was the train arrived at about 2.15 p.m. against its scheduled arrival time of 6 a.m. with the result that these MPs could not make it to Parliament before 3.30 p.m.
RJD's Raghuvansh Prasad Singh could not participate in the debate on the Second Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2011-12.
Other members from Bihar like JD(U)'s Mangni Lal Mandal lashed out at the Railways for meting out such a raw treatment to MPs from Bihar. He said that MPs were supposed to be given the highest priority when Parliament was in session. If more than three MPs happened to be travelling and the Railways failed to provide them accommodation in AC1 it was required to provide an extra coach.
