Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said the Railway Budget is anti-development and that it is yet another indication of the “non-performance” of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Mr. Modi asserted that “people are being misled to believe that no hike has been proposed in the railway fares. The fact is that the fares were hiked three months ago.”
“Along with rising diesel prices, the common people are in for a greater difficulty.” While the UPA government had failed to curb price rise, it had come up with a railway budget that would burden the people further, he said.
According to him, the “needed balance between the coastal-port connectivity and rail infrastructure and development is lacking in the budget.”
The budget made no mention of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune fast track bullet train project, he said. People of Gujarat were being wronged for the last nine years despite the State giving the maximum revenue to the railways.
He pointed out that in the last year budget, a wagon factory was announced for Kutch and surveys were done for 57 railway lines, but the budget simply glossed over it.
