Rail budget visionless, non-performing: Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today termed the railway budget as "anti- development" and said that it reflects the "non-performance of the UPA government".

Terming the Union Railway budget as non-performing, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that it lacked vision and would prove detrimental for the country in facing competition at international level.

In an official release Modi stated that railway budget will increase the burden of rising prices on the common people. He claimed that the people are being misled to believe that there is no hike in the railway fares. "The truth is railway fares were hiked three months ago and with the rising diesel prices people will face further difficulty. On one hand the UPA has failed to curb the menace of price rise while on the other hand this railway budget will put additional burden the poor and middle class," he added.

Claiming that the  rail budget was visionless, Modi said that keeping in mind the global economic scenario, there was a need for balanced connectivity between port and rail infrastructure, which was clearly lacking in the budget. "There was no initiative to strengthen railways on India’s coastline, which is required to effectively compete with the rest of the world,"  he said.

Alleging injustice to Gujarat in the railway budget, Modi stated that there was no mention of Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune Bullet Train project. He was of the opinion that despite giving maximum income to the railways, people of Gujarat are facing injustice for the last nine years.

He shared that in last year’s budget a wagon factory for Kutch was announced and in the last three years there were surveys for 57 railway lines but only four railway lines pertaining to Gujarat were mentioned in this budget.

The Chief Minister further pointed out that railways had an important role to play in the development of the nation and if India wishes to emerge as a leading commercial and industrial destination then importance must be given to railway services. "But on the contrary, several railway projects are pending," he added.