Mixed reactions to Railway Budget

‘This year’s proposals are just old wine in new bottles’

February 27, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:45 am IST - BELAGAVI:

Common railway travellers are not enthused by the Rail Budget proposals 2014-15 presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday.— PHOTO: D.B. PATIL

Common railway travellers are not enthused by the Rail Budget proposals 2014-15 presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday.— PHOTO: D.B. PATIL

The Railway Budget proposals for 2014-15 has evoked mixed reactions here, even as it failed to enthuse the common man for whom travelling by train is relative cheaper than by bus.

Passengers, particularly those often travelling in unreserved and sleeper coaches, were expecting the Railway Minister to bring down passenger fares due to the steep decline in the price of diesel.

The district Janata Dal (Secular) general secretary Yusuf A. Athani said that the Railway Minister failed to reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Achhe Din’ (good days) remark in his proposals.

The Minister was also silent on the new trains proposed by his predecessor D.V. Sadananda Gowda, even as he stressed on improving capacity and high density networks.

The Minister was also not clear on how he would utilise the Rs. 1,000 crore available under the Nirbhaya fund. Some commuters said that the proposals were just old wine in new bottles and it “carried forward” the proposals of his predecessors but with some ornamentations.

They added that Suresh Prabhu could have extended the benefits of the fall in prices of diesel to commuters by decreasing the fares proportionately. Interestingly, three-time Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Belagavi Suresh C. Angadi hailed the budget as revolutionary but was silent on the long-pending proposals in respect of Karnataka and Belagavi supported by him too. Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore also came out with similar reaction.

Belagavi District Congress Committee president Laxmi R. Hebbalkar described the budget as a “sleeping budget”.

The budget reflects the true colour of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s present “hi-fi” attitude where the poor had no place.

She said the least the people expected was relief in the passenger fares on account of decreased prices of diesel fuel.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.