Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Monday raised the issue of "poor financial health" of Indian Railways in the Rajya Sabha and criticised the Centre for extending "stepmotherly treatment" to non-BJP governments in allocation of funds.
Initiating a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Railways in the Upper House, O'Brien expressed concern over meagre growth in freight revenues and huge borrowing to meet revenue deficit.
He also questioned privatisation of Railways and the need for costly projects like bullet trains when the department was on the verge of bankruptcy.
"The growth in freight has always been tepid of around 1 per cent. Before 2014, it used to be in the range of 4 per cent. So what has happened in the last six years? Have Volvo buses and airline operators taken over the short and long duration journeys? What has gone wrong with the freight which is the 'daal roti' of Railways?" O'Brien said.
He also raised the decline in net revenue receipts by 78 per cent since 2014-15 while referring to revenue deficit of
Rs 25,000 crore in the Railways.
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"Railways has taken Rs 60,000 crore from LIC. How did you (government) utilise this amount? What about privatisation? Let the minister clarify on the floor of the House that there won't be any privatisation of the Railways," he said.
Attacking the government on various initiatives like giving free tickets to people who do a specific number of squats, the TMC leader said, "Don't mind these gimmicks as it comes from the top like giving your Twitter, Facebook account to women on Women's day.. better would have been by bringing 33 per cent of women in parliament."
He was apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent announcement of giving away his social media accounts on March 8, the International Women's Day.
The TMC MP alleged stepmotherly treatment was meted out to non-BJP states, including West Bengal.
Commenting on the railway projects in West Bengal, O'Brien said the central government has "allocated just
Rs 1,000 each for various projects in the state".
"Look at Delhi, Kerala and other non-BJP states, see the percentage (of allocated funds) given to these states," he noted.
He also asked the government to give details of filling of vacancies in the railways. He also urged the government to speak to the railway employees regarding the merger of railways services.
Naranbhai Rathwa of Congress also questioned the government on various fiscal matters related to the railways.
Countering the charges, G V L Narsimha Rao of BJP said the government has allocated Rs 1.61 lakh crore capex for railways in 2020-21 which is three times more than Rs 53,000 crore allotted in 2013-14.
He said the central government is committed to achieve all the targets in terms of modernisation of stations, electrification of tracks among others.
Vijila Sathyananth of AIADMK sought that pending railway projects like doubling of tracks and over-bridges should be expedited. She demanded that old railway coaches in many trains running in Tamil Nadu should be replaced.
Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP) rued that privatisation of railways will affect the reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. He also spoke about poor maintenance and lack of security in trains.
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