New Delhi, Mar 15 ,2021: The opposition Congress party on Monday accused the Modi government of privatising the railways, cautioned of adverse consequences and urged the government to learn from similar experiment abroad.
Taking part in the discussion on the Demands for Grants for Railways in the Lok Sabha, Amar Singh of the Congress said, ‘Since the coming of the Modi government, the railway is being taken towards continuous privatisation and the internal revenue of this big system of the country is continuously decreasing under the BJP rule.’ He said that by privatising the railways, the people of the country will not be benefited.
The Congress member said that before turning the railways to privatisation, there was a need to look at the situation in countries like UK, where the railway was privatized in the 90s and today the railway structure in that country has reached the brink of ruin.
He said in several other countries around the world which have taken steps to privatise the railways, the condition of the railway turned very bad and the situation has reached such that private companies have stopped operating the railways itself. The fare has been increased a lot and the government is forced to come forward to operate the trains. He said this is also the situation with bullet train.
The Government should see whether such fast trains are favorable to India and where they are being operated, whether these trains are running successfully there.
Mr Singh said the Government should not take the railway on the road to privatisation, but should take it
towards more of governmentalisation. He said if the people of the country are to be provided better railway facilities, then its privatisation will have to be stopped.
The Congress Member further said facilities should be increased in the second class compartments as the majority of the people in India travel in these coaches and their number should be increased.
