No specific announcements for Uttar Pradesh in the year Railway Budget has left the people disappointed, while Opposition parties called it as a “missed opportunity”', particularly when much was being talked about railway’s proposed plans for the State by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, both MPs from the State.
Though Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu did talk about the role of organisations and institutions based in Uttar Pradesh playing a major role in railway’s modernisation, political parties argue that people of the State, who gave the BJP a massive victory in the Lok Sabha polls, were feeling let down. People in cities like Lucknow, Varanasi and Kanpur were hoping for specific plans to improve facilities at railway stations.
“'The first full-fledged Rail Budget of the (Narendra) Modi government is totally lacklustre after the big dreams it had dished out, especially for the people of Uttar Pradesh,” said Bahujan
Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
Though Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav might have praised the Railway Budget, his party’s U.P. unit spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the people were disappointed as there was nothing for the State. “Even the constituencies of the Prime Minister (Varanasi) and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow) have been ignored,” he quipped.
Similarly, State Congress president Nirmal Khatri said people were feeling betrayed as they had “high expectations”.
There was no talk of giving new trains or improving its functioning to help people, but there were enough indications that the Narendra Modi government was trying to hand over the railways to capitalists and private players, he added.
However, in his speech, the Railway Minister announced setting up of the ‘Malviya Chair’ for railway technology at IIT-Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, in honour of the institution’s founder Madan Mohan Malviya. It will help in development of new materials to be used in all assets of the railways. Similarly, Mr. Prabhu decided to strengthen the Lucknow-based Research, Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) into an organisation of excellence for applied research. The RDSO would also collaborate with IIT-Kanpur to help provide facilities for safety at unmanned level crossings.
