Trinamool MPs criticise the Government on Railway Budget 2015-16

Trinamool MPs criticise the Government on Railway Budget 2015-16

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Updated at 5.00 pm, 12 March 2015.

Trinamool MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Pratima Mandal ,Arpita Ghosh, Tapas Mandal and Mamtaz Sanghamitra spoke on the Railway Budget 2015-16 at Lok Sabha.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar slammed the Government for raising the freight charges, even when international fuel prices have declined.

“With an increase in the freight rates, core industries like, cement, kerosene, urea and food grains, is going to increase. This is going to hit badly, the common man as well as the industry. This will create a burden on the common man, because this will increase the price of the daily used commodities”, she said.

She drew attention to the fact that during the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as the Railway Minister the freight carrying capacity had increased by 35%, but during the last year there has been a fall in the capacity.

Click here for full speech of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.

Ratna De Nag also criticized the Government along similar lines pointing out that petty amounts were allocated to pending projects for the State of West Bengal.

“In 2014-15 Railway Budget only Rs 33.92 Crore was allocated whereas in 2015-16 Budget a meager sum of Rs 2.51 Crore is allocated. How can we complete this project with such a meager allocation? In the last budget a sum of Rs 184.70 Crore was sanctioned for coach rehabilitation factory in Anara but till March 2014 only Rs 8.29 Crore has been spent. I strongly urge the Railway Minister to allocate more funds and utilise the sanctioned fund”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Ratna De Nag.

Pratima Mandal urged the Railway Minister to introduce new galloping trains to Sealdah-Namkhana line and to extend the line to Bakkhali, which is a popular tourist spot of West Bengal. “Bakkhali is an attractive tourist stop, so that people from different parts of West Bengal can reach there easily. Kindly sanction funds for these two projects”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Pratima Mandal.

Arpita Ghosh slammed the Government on meager allotment of funds for projects in West Bengal. Several projects of her Parliamentary constituency is pending and allocations have been cut down drastically. “Jab Mamata Di, Rail Mantri thi, unhone mere kshetra me pehli bar rail line layi thi aur kayi projects di thi, jaisa ki Balurghat Hili new rail line, new construction Itahar-Buniyadpur, new construction Buniyadpur, Kushmandi via Kishanganj, new construction Buniadpur wagon factory. Mamata ji Rail Mantrak chhorne ke baad se humare waha kaam bandh pare hai. Koi allotment nahi ho rahi hai. Ajeeb baath to yeh hai, ki kuch project ki zikar bhi nahi hai. Balurghat – Hili Rs 200 Crore ka project mein Mamata ji chhorne ki baad keval Rs 2 Crore mila hai”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Arpita Ghosh.

Tapas Mandal strongly criticised the Minister for ignoring West Bengal in the Railway Budget. He urged the Minister to finish the work of underpass in Ranaghat. “I want to draw you attention to the suburban railway stations. The toilets, the bathrooms of the suburban railway stations are in very bad conditions”, he said.

Click here for full speech of Tapas Mandal.

Mamtaz Sanghamita raised the issue of female security in local trains and the quality of food served in the platforms. “There is no local train between Durgapur to Bardhaman, Durgapur to Howrah, Katwa and Sealdah. There is urgent need of railway overpass in Kalna”, she said.

Click here for full speech of Mamtaz Sanghamita.

A complete overhaul of railways is needed: Ratna De Nag |Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Deputy Speaker Sir, I would like to start with a word of appreciation to the Railway Minister for not hiking the fares.

However that BJP Government after taking over the reins of the Government, BJP led NDA Government increased the burden on the common people by raising the passenger fares and there is no surety that they would not hike the fares of the passengers in time.

Ours is a vast railway network. In 1947, we had railway network of nearly 50,000 km, whereas China had 27,000 km. Now China has about 1,10,000 kms whereas India has only 65,000 kms of railway network. We have to make great strides, if we have to cater to the ever growing population of India.

No new trains have been announced. At least the Railway Minister should have come with the projects that he is planning to complete during the year. By doing so, it seems that he himself is apprehensive about the capabilities of the Railways in executing the pending projects.

Sir, the Government is focusing on infrastructure. It may be of some help in the long run.

The matters of prime importance are safety of women and safety of passengers on train. As per an estimate, more than 2000 persons died in nearly 800 railway accidents in the past year.

There is no indication of customer friendly approach i.e. putting the passenger first. The focus should be on ensuring safety and accessibility to the amenities of railways by opening up more and more railway reservation offices and more counters should be opened in existing railways booking centres. Let us hope, that some passenger related amenities will be included in Vision Document 2030, which he intends bring out in near future.

I think the cleanliness drive should start from the Railways as crores of people use railways every day. But there is no cleanliness. I doubt, whether Minister’s expansion programme will go in the right directs with so many problems in it.

There is a need to reduce fare of the tatkal charges and cancellation charges too, should be reduced considerably. More companies of women RPF personnel and another eight companies should be formed with a view to strengthen the security of women passengers.

Effort should be ensured that freedom fighters are taken care of. When they approach the Railway authorities, they should be helped, going out of the way.

Number of sleeper classes in the train should be increased considerably as common man travels in this category, to be precise, 90% of the people travel in this category. More and more toilets, waiting room and benches, both in major stations and small stations should be constructed for the convenience of the railway passengers.

The Railway Minister vowed to give birth to the railway network in four years. Only time will tell about this exalted wish or claim.

There has been a hike by 10% on freight. I am in the opinion that this freight hike would have repercussions on prices of essential commodities. Another plan for elimination 3,438 level crossings in a financial year is a welcome measure, but is it attainable? Is Rs 6581 Crore sanctioned for the same, enough?

Sir, West Bengal has been neglected in this Budget. I would like to draw attention of the Hon’ble Minister regarding the Dankuni factory, which produces parts of the Railway electric engines. This is located on the Howrah – Bardhaman cord in Hooghly district which is my district. This will go a long way in catering to the needs of the Railways in and around areas.

Unfortunately, Rs 265.95 Crore what was only sanctioned for 2013-14, but till March 2014 only Rs 188.02 Crore has been spent. In 2014-15 Railway Budget only Rs 33.92 Crore was allocated. In 2015-16 Budget a meagre sum of Rs 2.51 Crore is allocated. This defies logic.

How can we complete this project with such a meagre allocation and that too in a piecemeal method?

In the last budget a sum of Rs 184.70 Crore was sanctioned for coach rehabilitation factory in Anara but till March 2014 only Rs 8.29 Crore has been spent. Now in the current Railway Budget very little fund has been sanctioned. I strongly urge the Railway Minister to allocate more funds and utilise the sanctioned fund.

I will request the Hon’ble Minister, to give utmost importance and priority to the pending projects in West Bengal and ensure its completion as early as possible.

There is a need for executing better delivery mechanism. It is a herculean task for putting Railways on the track. There is a need to improve the sleeper class coaches in the trains. There rakes given to the passengers of sleeper classes and second AC and third AC, should be covered properly.

There is an urgent necessity to increase the speed of the train wherever necessary, as it will not only reduce the journey time but also save the energy.

Hygiene in the trains and in the railway stations needs special and constant attention. Pantry served food item are of lower grade and served in mostly unhygienic condition. This needs immediate attention.

A complete overhaul of railways, in every sense of the word is needed.

Aparupa Poddar speaks on punctuality of Indian Railways | Transcript

Posted on December 9, 2014 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Thank you Deputy Speaker, Sir, for permitting me to mention the following matter in the Zero Hour. With deep regret, I inform the House that the Indian Railway, the world’s largest public railway network, now has become the world’s biggest late-running network in the country.

During the last six months, few trains have reached their destination in due time though they departed at scheduled time. Number of trains has increased. Good. Fare has been hiked but the security, punctuality, cleanliness of the trains are being neglected.

In this context I like to inform that CAG states zones are reporting wrong data in order to show that the trains are punctual 95% of the time. In addition, CAG also reports that trains are late at least 54 per cent of the time while prestigious trains like Rajdhani were late at least 53 percent of the time. Thus there is a need to measure a report of punctuality from the passengers’ perspective.

I would therefore request you, and the Hon’ble Minister through you, to inform the House with the last three months’ statistics of Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains and the detailed cause of late running. The government must ensure the punctuality, cleanliness and security of the passengers.

Thank you.