In a first, rail budget gets PM's endorsement

Politics of budget: Former railway minister Kharge says budget lacks new ideas

The prime minister has claimed complete ownership of the railway budget, a first. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used national television and social media to provide a reasoned and detailed endorsement of the budget tabled by his colleague, D V Sadananda Gowda, even as Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge dismissed the budget as of no consequence.

Modi’s support reflected many of his own leanings. He lauded Gowda for the proposal to use e-procurement for purchases of more than Rs 25 lakh, saying, “The budget strengthens the institutional mechanism. It focuses on transparency and integrity.” Modi added the railway budget “shows where we want to take the Railways and, at the same time, where we want to take India through the Railways”. In particular, he hailed proposals related to the use of information technology. “The railway budget aspires for better service, speed and safety. It is an effort to create a modern railways, contributing towards a developed India,” he said.

By contrast, Kharge, a former railway minister, said: “This is not a railway budget but only a PPP (public-private partnership) budget and an FDI (foreign direct investment) budget. In this budget, the whole intention of this government seems to be commercially oriented. After all, the Railways is a social responsibility…we have to look after the poor, the disabled…we cannot focus only on commercial viability.”

Ridiculing the government’s signature railway project of high-speed rail, Kharge said: “As for bullet trains, they have allocated Rs 100 crore for it! Building one km of track costs Rs 25 crore. So, are they going to build only four km of track?”

He said the budget lacked new ideas. “This is more like an administrative report; there are no new schemes in it. We built the Udhampur-Katra line and they took the credit for it. This budget is only for Ahmedabad. They plan to introduce a bullet train in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector.”

Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, former minister of state for railways, said: “The three elements in this budget are FDI, PPP and privatisation; the Railways is heading for privatisation.”

Maharashtra (where elections are due in six months) and Karnataka (the railway minister’s home state) got the largest number of new trains. Understandably, the budget got a ringing endorsement from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Maharashtra. Kirit Somaiyya said the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train, the fourth line from Karjat to Igatpuri and the proposal to provide more passenger amenities would go down well with passengers in Maharashtra.

The proposal to connect Coorg in Karnataka with a railway line addresses an important political constituency. At the heart of the movement for statehood for Coorg was the lack of railway facilities to the plantation area. North Karnataka’s   Hubli-Dharwad region, which contributed the largest contingent of Kar Sevaks during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation and is considered the BJP’s strongest base in Karnataka, will now have three daily passenger trains —Yesvantpur in Bangalore North to Tumkur; Byndoor in the coastal district of Udupi to Kasaragod in north Kerala; and Dharwad to Dandeli in north Karnataka.

Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister and former railway minister, said on her Facebook page: “Has anyone ever seen so much deprivation and humiliation? The Centre has deprived and humiliated Bengal.”

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, however, praised the railway budget, saying: “I commend the prime minister and railway minister for having practised transparency in placing before the country the true status of the Indian Railways. Their approach is fiscally responsible and very bold. We look forward to the new initiatives to raise finances and the proposed improvements in project and operational management bearing fruit and, thereby, delivering on the hopes and aspirations created.”