Rail budget fails to bring cheers

Political leaders say the budget has no plans to develop rail network in the State

Hyderabad: The Railway budget has invoked mixed responses among the general public as well as various political parties. While those who oppose the government said that the budget had left people surprised as it was a clear deviation from the normal budget that was presented all these years, others said there was no need for anyone to feel let down.

Though the budget had left the people, particularly of the two Telugu speaking States, disappointed, the Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said that the Railway budget - 2015 was a common man’s budget. The Minister had made it clear that announcement of new lines would be made later. He said it now depended on the MPs to convince the Minister about the viability of projects and get them sanctioned.

South Central Railway has got 24 per cent more funds this time comparing to the last year, Dattatreya said. This rail budget showed direction for the next five years, he said. He said he appealed the Centre to allot adequate number of projects for two Telugu States.

Congress MLA Sampath Kumar said the BJP government’s Railway budget was apparently pro-corporate and unconcerned about the large chunk of poor people in the country. Sampath Kumar said both the Telugu States could not secure minimum allocations from the Railway Ministry. He accused Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of having failed to convince the Railway Ministry to secure funds for the development of the railways in the State. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Ponnala Laxmaiah ridiculed the Railway budget saying there were neither new rails nor new lines in Telangana State.

In a statement issued here, the TPCC chief said the Railway Minister did not consider at least minimum facilities in the budget. He said the Railway Minister just mentioned about minor issues like WiFi, mobile recharge, bio-toilets, drinking water, railway information on mobiles, e-catering and so on.

The CPI (M) faulted the Railway budget 2015-16 for its failure to make substantial allocations to Telangana which has a poor rail network. CPI (M) Telangana State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said the railway network played a crucial role in the development of backward regions. He pointed out that there was no rail connectivity between the district headquarters and other towns of any district in Telangana.

Interestingly the Lok Satta national president Jayprakash Narayan said it was the best budget in two decades and there were no empty promises or populist measures announced in the budget.

Meanwhile Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishnamurthy said it was a dismal Railway budget as there was no mention of new railway projects for the State. Reacting on Railway budget, Krishnamurthy said it was great injustice to Andhra Pradesh as there was no mention of new railway projects and also no funds were earmarked for pending railway projects in the State. He also said the Centre was not releasing required funds for the State after bifurcation and the 14th Finance Commission recommendations were not in favour of Andhra Pradesh as expected.