The Narendra Modi government must clarify whether it intends to privatise the Indian Railways after Air India, Opposition members said on Tuesday while participating in the the debate on the Demand for Grants 2022-23 for the Indian Railways.
Initiating the debate, Congress chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh accused the government of inefficient management of the Railways and said it was indulging in jugglery in allocation of funds. “... The intention of this government is privatising the Indian Railways also. Air India already sold. Now next step of this government is Indian Railways. That will happen very soon,” Mr. Suresh said,
He asked the Railway Minister whether the Indian Railways would remain under the Government of India or go into the hands of “groups like Adani or Ambani”. The Congress leader said the annual plan of the Railways proposed for the next fiscal is ₹2.45 lakh crore, including gross budgetary support of ₹1.30 lakh crore. Stating that this was 55.85% of the total capital expenditure, he questioned if the rest of the money would come from private-public partnerships, institutional financing and foreign direct investment (FDI).
“The Indian Railways, the premier public sector [undertaking], is up for sale. The BE [budget estimate] for extra budgetary resources for 2022-23 is ₹1.15 lakh crore, which means that 41% of capital expenditure will come from leasing... and putting pieces of the public sector organisation for sale to bidders,” Mr. Suresh said.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi joined the privatisation debate and questioned the rationale of asking private companies to run profitable air-conditioned coaches while the government operated the loss-making sleeper coaches. Raising the issue of vacancies in the southern divisions of the Railways, and of not employing local people to these posts, the DMK MP said accidents could happen and safety issues arise if officials managing crucial positions did not understand the local language. She also said effective steps were needed to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks, and sought the government’s clarification on achieving 100% electrification for the Railways by next year.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Satabdi Roy too wanted to know the government’s stand on privatisation and its impact on the common man. She also stressed the need to bring down the price of a platform ticket from ₹50 to “reasonable levels”, and urged the Railway Ministry to focus on reducing the time for claim settlement for railway accident victims.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Jaunpur Shyam Singh Yadav alleged that the Indian Railways was no longer a common man’s transport with increasing prices and privatisation.
