CPI(M) to oppose Bill on transfer of Bharat Wagon to railways

Why should the railway ministry adopt the sick Bharat Wagon and Engineering in Bihar and leave out two similar units in West Bengal.

This is the question the CPI(M) has posed to its ally Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was behind the recent Cabinet decision to transfer the

Bihar unit from the heavy industries ministry to the railways.

The CPI(M) has decided that it will oppose any Bill that seeks to formalise the transfer, till the railway minister agrees to extend the favour to the two units in West Bengal "" Burn Standard and Braithwaite.

All the three units are subsidiaries of the state-owned Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd and since they are public sector units, any change in ministry or ownership has to be cleared through Parliament and later a presidential approval.

CPI(M) leader in the Lok Sabha, Basudeb Acharia, told Business Standard that the Left would use its clout in Parliament to stall this move. "The government has to bring a Bill for the transfer of ownership of Bharat Wagon from one ministry to another. We will oppose the Bill when it is placed in Parliament in the coming session."

The CPI(M) says that taking a confrontationist stand in this matter was not their first choice.

They appealed to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the railway minister but it went unheeded. While the PM said he would look into the issue, Prasad reportedly told the Left, "Let me first do something for Bihar, then I will think about Bengal." An agitated CPI(M) has decided to take up the issue again with the PM on February 13.

The CPI(M) wants to point out that it is not opposed to Bihar's benefits but its objection is against the piecemeal manner of reviving wagon-making units.

"All the three wagon-making units are sick. Bharat Wagon doesn't even produce wagons nowadays, but strangely, it will be handed over to the railways, while Burn Standard and Braithwaite are left out. We want all the three be taken over by the railways, otherwise we won't allow this Bill to pass," said Acharia.

The CPI(M)'s trade union wing CITU has also sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday on the same issue.

CITU national secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tapan Sen said in the letter: "These two units, especially Burn Standard, have been languishing for years under BIFR. Transfer of control of these two PSUs to the railways after restructuring them would benefit both the railways and the public sector wagon industry."