March 12, 2020
Saugata Roy speaks on Demands for Grants under the control of Ministry of Railways for 2020-21
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Sir, I rise to speak on the Railway Budget. Mr Arun Jaitley, in order to make a difference, in 2017, abolished the Railway Budget and brought the Railway Budget into the General Budget. I think it was a wrong step and that is why the Railways is not getting any primacy even today. I think the Government should revert to the old system of having a separate Railway Budget. Number two, every Railway Minister tries to show that he is somebody special.
Now, Mr Piyush Goyal, unfortunately, is not here. He is proposing to merge all the Railway services into one service. There are at present three railway services — Indian Railway Service for engineers, Indian Railway Traffic Service and Indian Railways Account Service. He is saying that all services will be merged. He is absolutely wrong. In the Railway service for engineers, the employees are only qualified graduate engineers, in the Railway Traffic Service, the recruits are from humanities, arts, commerce and other fields, and in the Railway Accounts Service, the employees are mainly from commerce background.
It is being strongly resented by railway officers. They cannot say anything because the Government has 303 MPs but if you ask them individually, every railway officer will say that this will destroy the ethos of the Railways. I strongly oppose the merger of the Railway Services into one.
Before speaking on the Railway Budget, I want to clarify certain points, I do not think the bullet train will ever happen; they have not yet acquired the land. This is just the Prime Minister’s way of saying that, look I am so powerful that I have spoken to Mr Abe myself and I am starting on the bullet train. Even if we begin the bullet train, it will be half the velocity of the Shinkansen of Japan. We have gone to Tokyo, and from Tokyo to Osaka via Kiyoto. Now, the main advantage of the train is that it runs on magnetic levitation — there is a constantly changing electric field between the track and the wheels, as a result of which the wheels do not touch the track. So, there is no friction and thus, it can have better speed.
The bullet train we are talking of here will run at only half the speed of the Shinkansen train. So, do not unnecessarily fool the people of the country by saying that you are bringing the bullet train; it will be a totally wrong thing to do.
The Railways today is beset with two major problems. One is the vacancy level. In one year, from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, railway workers decreased by 43,534, and so it came down to 12,26,000. The Railway is the biggest employer in the public sector. You are saying that you are expanding the railway network and yet you are reducing the number of employees. It is totally anti-labour, and anti-national as well, if I may say so. All Railway vacancies should be fulfilled at the earliest. There are vacancies in the post of gangmen. You know gangmen are those who look after the tracks and deal with the crossings. Neglect in these duties can lead to accidents.
The other problem is the case of drivers. The locomotive drivers who drive at night have so much load on them that they fall asleep and this can also lead to accidents. It’s true that the safety record has improved recently and one credit they claim is that they eliminated unmanned railway crossings. It was a welcome step, but whereas that is to prevent collisions between trains and road vehicles, the possibility of trains colliding with each other — like it happened in Gaishal or the Gyaneshwari Express accident — remains very much possible.
Before I go into the actual working of the Railways, let me mention quickly two to three points. One is the East-West Metro project. It’s already a disaster because while digging through the central Kolkata, 1,500 buildings collapsed. It was totally the fault of the tunnel boring machine. The East-West Metro is totally under the Railways unlike the other metro railways in the country. The Railways must ensure that further boring does not cause any more collapse of houses. The East West Metro was inaugurated by Piyush Goyal. But Sir, you would be surprised to know that the West Bengal Chief Minister, who was also a former Railway Minister, was not even invited to the function, neither was the local MP. It is a matter of shame that we forget common courtesies. I strongly oppose this.
The other thing was that Mamata Banerjee was Railway Minister between 2009 and 2010. She initiated many railway projects. All around Kolkata she envisioned a web of metro railway networks, one of which was from Dum Dum Airport to Garia, another from Dum Dum Airport to Barasat while another still was from Dum Dum Airport to Barrackpore. All of these pass through my area. The allotment of money for these projects is abysmally low. As a result, these projects are going on for years. There is another project, from Joka to BBD Bag. all these projects are languishing.
I want two other projects — as mentioned by my colleague here for her constituency — a line which was started to run from Arambagh to Bishnupur, has only gone up to Goghat, the rest of the line is incomplete. They should take it up. The other thing is, there is a railway bridge in Murshidabad district, from where another of my party colleague is an MP; it’s called Nashipur Rail Bridge. The bridge was completed 10 years ago. But because the approach has not been built, for 10 years the bridge has been lying unused.
Lastly, Sir, but this is not the last of my speech; I want to mention the horrible condition of suburban trains around Kolkata. One Honourable Member has spoken very eloquently about the Mumbai suburban trains. They form one of the best transport systems in the country. Millions of passengers travel till late at night. But we also have a big suburban train network around Howrah and Sealdah. But if you enter any of the coaches, you will shudder to think how human beings travel in such cramped conditions. They are packed like cattle. I have said so many times that these coaches should be changed. Nothing has been done. The Railways keeps saying that it has no rake. Even the metro that runs in Kolkata now from Garia to Noapara, the main line of about 23 km, is also terribly crowded. There has been no modernisation of Kolkata Metro. I strongly demand the modernisation of Kolkata Metro.
Now let me point out some more things. The Railways have been grossly neglected by the Central Government. This year the Railways got only Rs 70,000 crore as gross budgetary support. Now tell me, Sir, I was reading a calculation which I may mention to you. The calculation says that railway infrastructure will need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030. Given that the capital expenditure outlays of the Railways is around Rs 1.5 to 1.6 lakh crores per annum, completing even all the sanctioned projects would take 30 years. It is therefore proposed to use PPP to unleash faster development.
Now this is the danger. The Railways, the biggest public sector in our country, is being subjected to the privatisation policy of the Government. You read this year’s Budget. What are the highlights? Setting up a large solar capacity. Is it the work of the Railways to set up a solar capacity? We have a separate Ministry for Non-Conventional Energy. Four station redevelopment projects and operations of 150 passenger trains would be done through the PPP mode. The process of inviting private participation is underway. I am totally opposed to this proposal.
The first train ran between Bombay and Thane in 1853. The Railways has served the country for nearly 170 years, and now private players, who have not contributed to the development of the Railways and will not contribute to the building of infrastructure, will be given trains to run. These trains will be Adani trains, Ambani trains, Birla trains and whatever. Is this the proper thing to do? You do your development slowly, this public private participation is something <stops in the middle> The private parties are there only for minting money, they will not invest. If you ask them to take the railway line to Pasighat in Arunachal or Kohima, they will not. And that’s why there is another Railway demand, for a new line from Jaynagar to Moipic via Jamtala. This is in the Jaynagar constituency, and this should also be actively pursued.
Sir, the Railways is improving at a very slow rate. You see, revenue originating in the States has increased by only 5.34 per cent, which is the same as our GDP growth rate. The revenue net ton kilometre has increased by 6.58 per cent. The passenger business, the: number of passengers carried has increased by 1.85 per cent. It points out that services are very bad, the food is very bad, Passengers are choosing other modes of transport. You are killing the goose which is laying the golden eggs.
Sir, they are saying they have constructed new lines comprising 479 km, conversion to broad gauge:of 597.2 km. I would say that the Government can form a company by itself and go to international financial organisations for the development of the Railways. They don’t have to go to these private players, and the important thing is, instead of reducing the number of employees, you should fill up the vacancies and give better facilities to railway workers.
The Railways is the pride of the nation. It has served us for 170 years. Many towns survive because of the Railways. When Mamata Banerjee was Railway Minister, through the Railways, she set up hospitals. Sir, if you go to Kolkata, you can see a big cancer hospital named after Tapan Sinha, built by the Metro Railways. There is so much. The Railways runs schools and hospitals. All that is going to seed. Mr Minister, you were earlier Chairman of the Railway Housing Committee, you used to allot flats to people. Now that you are in the Railways, you allot railway lines to backward places, you allot more better coaches to us, and let the Railways again make us proud, instead of languishing under the stepmotherly treatment of the Government and of the Budget of the Finance Minister.
