Railways back with Congress after 17 years

C K Jaffer Sharief was the last railway minister from the Congress, between 1991-95

In a marked departure from former Rail minister Trinamool Congress’ Mukul Roy, the newly appointed minister CP Joshi made his first visit to Rail Bhavan after taking charge of the ministry. Mukul Roy was known more as the ‘minister in absentia’ as he was rarely present at the Rail Bhavan, preferring to stay put in TMC bastion Kolkata. Joshi who is handling the portfolio in addition to his charge as Road Transport and Highways minister, today said “safety of passengers will be my (his) top priority.”

The Railway portfolio became controversy ridden ever since TMC then minister Dinesh Trivedi citing the need for increased passenger safety had raises passenger fares. While this move was lauded by others, it brought him in direct conflict with his party and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee who had him removed amid the passing of the rail budget in Parliament. Of course, this entailed a rollback of the controversial decisions by her appointee Mukul Roy.

 

With CP Joshi’s arrival at the rail ministry, albeit as additional charge, this crucial ministry has returned to the Congress after 17 long years. C K Jaffer Sharief was the last railway minister from the Congress (1991-95).

According to Congress party sources the Prime minister himself is keen that long laggard changes in the railways be implemented without further delay. Implementing this brief, Joshi said, "The aim is that railways have an active role in India's economic growth.” He added that , “Safety will be my top priority, along with passenger amenities and modernisation of rail infrastructure.”

TMC erstwhile minister Dinesh Trivedi had attempted to implement the Sam Pitroda led committee report on the modernization of the railways and tried to generate additional resources for it through freight rate hike and the passenger fare hike. The latter move generated a lot of controversy with TMC objecting to as it was against any sort of fare hike.

In fact, it was on this grounds that the TMC pulled out of the UPA government last week, protesting against the diesel price hike and the cap on LPG cylinders.