Rail Budget 2013 | Who said what

Read all the key political reactions to Pawan Bansal's Railway Budget 2013-14

The Railway Budget for 2013-14 has spared passengers from any further hike in fares but raised various other charges on tickets along with freight tariff of less than 5%.

Economists are of the view that the railways need a radical overhaul to get the system back on track, requiring difficult decisions that previous railway ministers have also avoided.

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal prefers to maintain a low profile and people who work with him say the minister is "very courteous. However, bouquets and brickbats poured in for the Railway Minister from all sides.

Here are some of the political reactions from across parties

The Railway Budget is reformist and forward-looking. The Budget presents a realistic picture of railway finances.
The Minister for Railways has done a commendable job in meeting competing demands of improving and increasing services for commuters and controlling expenditure of his department.

 

- Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India


Terming the Railway Budget for 2012-13 as "practical and implementable", the finance minister has said that his cabinet colleague Pawan Kumar Bansal has presented the finances of the railways in a very candid manner.

 

"The railway minister has presented a very responsible, practical and implementable budget." 

- P Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India


It's a populist election budget which has addressed the Congress concerns not large regional issue and aspirations. Freight hike will add to inflationary trends. One good thing is concessions to armed forces.

- Yashwant Sinha, senior BJP leader

 

Now the government has introduced dynamic fuel adjustment component on freight rates that will result in a 5% increase in rates. Any increase in freight rates is bound to push all round inflation in the country. The Railways suffer from the UPA's economic disorientation and financial mismanagement.

 

- Rajanth Singh, BJP President

This is not a Rail Budget, this is a Rae Bareli budget. This budget is in favour of limited states. There are no schemes for Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar and Chhattisgarh in this budget. 

- Gopinath Munde, BJP leader


I have never seen such an anti-people budget in my political life.... This is a budget for Congress...you can give new trains for Rae Bareli (Lok Sabha constituency of Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi), but don’t ignore Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal.

- Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief


The poor and middle classes will not benefit much from it.... Fare has been hiked through backdoor

- Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo

I commend the Railway Minister for presenting a very practical, useful budget which will in the years to come really take care of the Railways through their own resources.

 

- Kapil Sibal, Telecom Minister

States like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Bengal were ignored. They haven't concentrated on the right areas. No new lines in small areas.

- Sharad Yadav, Janata Dal (United) chief

“It is a weird budget. January they increase fares, now they say they are not raising prices, but increasing 'charges'. It is a non-ambitious budget.”

- Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister


I think some conspiracy is there so as to hand over Railways to the private sector.

- Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD boss

 

I think it is an ordinary budget. It lacks vision for the future. With the establishment of a National Tariff Commission the government has prepared an instrument to increase prices whenever the price of diesel or power is increased.

 

- Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP spokesperson

The budget was uninspiring and lacked any long-term perspective with regard to infrastructure development.

 

-Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu CM