Mukul Roy tries to get rly unions on board

In only his second day in office, railways minister Mukul Roy did what was urgently required — goodwill overtures towards employee federations upset with Dinesh Trivedi's exit.

The minister assured the federations he would not allow privatisation of the railways and promised to accompany their representatives for a meeting with the Prime Minister. M Raghavaiah, general secretary, National Federation of Indian Railwaymen, told Business Standard the minister would hold elaborate meetings with all the unions over the next few days.

At Rail Bhawan on Wednesday, Roy started his day with a photo session and an informal interaction with the media. He, however, evaded queries on a possible rollback of the fare rise that had cost Trivedi his job. The interaction was followed by a customary meeting with Railway Board members and ministers of state K H Muniyappa and Bharatsinh Solanki.

He is understood to have familiarised officials with his line of thinking during the hour-long meeting that started at 11 am. He then left for Parliament due to an ongoing discussion on the Budget.

The minister is likely to speak on a partial rollback of the fare rise tomorrow, at around noon in the Lok Sabha and at 3 pm in the Rajya Sabha.

All the five railway federations, which were protesting against any rollback, met Roy in Parliament and stressed the need to raise fares, since the railways was in dire financial health. Raghavaiah said the minister was "very positive" towards their views.