Tag: Railway (Amendment) Bill

Tapas Mandal speaks on Rail Budget 2015 – 16 | Transcript

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Full transcript:

Thank you, Sir. I am thankful to you Sabhapati ji and my leader Mamata Banerjee, for allowing me to speak a few words on the Railway Budget 2015.

This is a unique Budget, propagating discomfort to the people of West Bengal.

First of all, I thank you Prabhu ji, to make it clear that West Bengal is not in the priority area of the NDA Government. Though, your Government is focussing on improvement of the eastern part of our country, as evidenced many times, inside the House and outside the House. By presenting this Budget, at least you have proved that either your leader is committing some mistake or you. It is my privilege, to hope that you are wrong.

Why, I am saying this, is because there are no specific budget allocations for projects in West Bengal. Projects of Rs 100 Crore are stuck in West Bengal. Allocation is very limited. Sometime back, Mr Ramesh Bidhuri from that side made adverse comments on Mamata Banerjee. She announced some viable projects in her tenure. It was not completed and continued due to the budgetary provisions by subsequent Government.

I would like to state that, Mamata Banerjee is the most popular Railway Minister in Independent India.  Sir, there is no mention of Metro Railway projects in the annexure of Railway Budget 2015. Please take this proposal from the eastern part of the country, for execution and your kind consideration.

My concern is my people, the people of my constituency and the people of West Bengal. We have lots of complaints and lots of grievance. I hope, that this may be your problem also, because you are also an elected member.

Please look into the matter as the Prime Minister of our country is supposed to look at the east.

Last year when the Finance Minister presented his General Budget, he declared to set up an AIIMS at Kalyani in Nadia district of our State.

Kalyani is an upcoming smart city. May you, show your kripa on Kalyani Metro via Barrackpur proposed route. When our leaders were the Railway Ministers they had sanctioned some amount for surveying the possibility of those proposed line.  I think this will be a vital proposal for implementation.

The numbers of local EMU trains running in Sealdah and Howrah station are not sufficient.  The frequency of the local trains needs to be increased at least during the peak office hours.  Millions of passengers are travelling in these sections each and every day. The number of compartments in the local trains needs to be increased from nine to 12, for accommodating the ever increasing number of the passengers.

The suburban railway stations of almost all states including West Bengal are being neglected for so many years. 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. You should look into the matter.

In my constituency, Ranaghat, the historical city, the railway station and the railway tracks run through the middle of the city. There should be an underpass for these areas. The initial work has already been done. The remaining part must be completed to facilitate the process of people’s movement from one place to other part.

There are a lot of unmanned level crossings falling under my constituency. One of such unmanned level crossing is between Ranaghat station and Cooper’s Camp Halt. This is a highly populated area and this should be looked into.

I would like to mention another important point. A lot of poor people live alongside the railway stations and railway tracks. They are from very poor background and they are from Bangladesh as refugees. Please look into the matter of their rehabilitation in better areas.

I conclude my speech with the expectation that all of these proposals will be looked into.

Thank you.

Aparupa Poddar speaks on the Railway (Amendment) Bill, 2014 | Transcript

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Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to speak in this august House. I thank my hon. Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee and the people of Bengal, who have voted and sent 34 MPs from Bengal.

I rise to speak on the Railway Amendment Bill. The Bill adds a new section 124 (b) to the Railway Act, 1989 to empower the Railways to deny compensation claims if it feels that the victim has fallen down from the train due to his/her own fault. The Ministry has also sought to make the Zonal Railways, in whose jurisdiction an accident takes place, a party to claim so that the authenticity of the claim can be ascertained.

Now, Sir, I would like to say accidental deaths due to falling from trains are not only due to the negligence of passengers. Most of the passengers who die due to accidental falling from trains are economically poor people who cannot avail reservation in upper class facilities and travel in ordinary second class compartments where number of passengers exceeds the number of seats. Hence passengers near the gates accidentally fall from the train. Thus, compensation in such cases of accidental falling should be considered, I urge the Railway Minister.

It would be practically impossible to prove that accidental falling is due to negligence of the passenger and not the Railway. Hence, I propose such cases should be considered sympathetically and the propose Amendment should include this part of the compensation process. The proposed amendment should include the time frame within which claims of compensation will be settled by Railways. Generally the enquiry to determine the cause of negligence is made by Railways. I propose that the ‘Enquiry Committee’ to determine the case of negligence should include representatives from the passengers’/Railway Users’ body. This will ensure transparency and timely compensation, Sir.

The rationale behind the Amendment is that the Railway finds that 98% of the accidents that reach the Claim Tribunal are due to accidental falling. The number has risen from 136 in 1995 to 8175 in 2011 as mentioned by the Minister. The average annual payment of such claims has been above Rs 134 crore, rising from Rs 26 lakh in 1994-95. The Railway feels that there is an organized racket and they have brought the Bill to prevent malpractice.

I feel the bill is anti-poor people. The Railways officers have been trying to bring the Bill since 2008, but in 2009 former Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee, felt the Bill was against poor people. So the Amendment will make it more difficult for the poor people who are genuine victims of the accidental falling from trains. Presently a victim or surviving relatives can register a claim’s case at the place where tickets were purchased as well as at final destination. This should not be changed. The final compensation amount should be determined keeping in view the economic condition, asset liabilities and earning capacity of the affected passenger. The corruption is in railway bureaucracy and law will only change it. Railway should ensure that all those poor people suffering from Railway accidents are compensated adequately.

Thank you.