Mixed reactions to Railway Budget

Mixed reactions to Railway Budget
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There were mixed reactions among political parties on the Railway Budget presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday with the ruling TRS leaders claiming it as good and opposition parties like Congress terming it disappointing.

During earlier occasions, the Railway Ministers used to allocate more trains to their home state, but this time the situation has changed. The allocations for creating basic infrastructure were a good effort,” said Nizamabad MP K Kavitha. She appreciated the steps taken for security of women passengers and expressed happiness over allocations for Peddapally-Nizamabad railway line.

Hyderabad: There were mixed reactions among political parties on the Railway Budget presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday with the ruling TRS leaders claiming it as good and opposition parties like Congress terming it disappointing.

Nizamabad MP K Kavitha said that during earlier occasions, the Railway Ministers used to allocate more trains to their home state, but this time the situation has changed. The allocations for creating basic infrastructure were a good effort. She appreciated the steps taken for security of women passengers. She expressed happiness over allocations for Peddapally-Nizamabad railway line.

However, Minister Jogu Ramanna expressed anguish and dismay saying that injustice was done to Adilabad district by not allotting any project. The Minister said that the Railway Budget turned a myopic eye on his home district of Adilabad. “Though there is no railway connectivity from Adilabad (that connects Maharashtra) to Hyderabad, the Centre is short sighted on our proposals,” he stated. Ramanna flayed that the Centre had failing to consider their proposals.

Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir described the Railway Budget as completely disappointing for Telangana State. He said that the Centre completely ignored Telangana in the allocation of budget for ongoing projects, sanction of new projects, doubling of lines or development of railway stations.

“Except for giving Rs 330 crore for Ghatkesar-Raigir (Yadadri) MMTS project, Rs 80 crore for Satellite Rail Terminal at Cherlapalli Railway Station and Rs 70 crore for Peddapally-Karimnagar-Nizamabad project, Telangana got nothing worth mentioning in the railway budget.

There is no mention of the Kazipet coach factory which was sanctioned by the previous UPA regime,” he said. Shabbir Ali slammed the TRS government for its failure to get adequate allocations for Telangana state in Railway Budget.

Senior Congress leader Ponnam Prabhakar accused the Chief Minister of not responding despite injustice being meted out to Telangana in the Railway Budget. CPI (M) politburo member B V Raghavulu opined that there was nothing in the Railway Budget-2016 introduced on Thursday, except promises. Raghavulu felt that the conditions seem to suggest that common man would be distanced from the train journey facility in near future.

CPI State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy stated that the Railway Budget was prepared keeping the elections in five states in view. The budget was not in a position to fulfill the needs of the people, he opined. He said that development of Secunderabad Railway Station on par with the international standards has become a mere dream.

He ridiculed the Ministry for stating that lower berths would be allocated to the old people while not allotting budget for the escalators to the handicapped and old aged people. The MIM termed the Railway Budget for the city as disappointing as the already sanctioned projects were neglected at the cost of new projects of MMTS.

Telugu Desam Party politburo member Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said that it was necessary to complete the pending railway projects in Telangana State, apart from taking up new projects. He added the Telangana people expected a decision on Kazipet Coach Factory in this budget, and the Andhra Pradesh people expected Visakha railway zone, but the Railway minister hasn’t announced the two projects.

There is need to develop Secunderabad Railway station as a Smart Station, he added. Meanwhile, welcoming the Railway budget, Union minister Bandaru Dattatraya said that the Railway budget was development oriented, reformative and technology friendly.

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