In a reply that befuddled the Opposition, railway minister Piyush Goyal while refuting allegations that the government is trying to privatise the Railways said the ministry has decided to invite investments for new technology, lines and projects in national interest and will also corporatise some units.
“There is no question of privatisation of the Railways. The railways cannot be privatised. However, if we have to increase the facilities in railways then obviously we need investments for it. We have taken a decision to encourage public private partnerships and we will also corporatise some units,” said Goyal while replying to the discussion on demands for grants of the Railways.
The marathon debate continued on Friday after remaining inconclusive till 11 PM on Thursday. “We should invite investment in national interest and if someone is ready to give new technology, new stations, projects and linesm” said Goyal.
OPPN CHARGES
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- The Opposition parties blamed Modi government for decreasing the profitability of Railways by 7.8%
- “Railways reported the worst ever operating ratio of 98.4 per cent in 2017-18,” said Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
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In his hour-long reply, Goyal amid strong protests by the Congress members reeled out figures to claim that his ministry under the Modi regime performed better than the UPA dispensation on several parameters including infrastructure and safety.
The Congress and Trinamool Congress accused the railways minister of misleading the House with false claims. Goyal defended Modi government’s decision to discontinue tabling a separate railway budget in the parliament as he called the previous railway budgets political budgets that were used to sell dreams of new trains and railway lines to hoodwink the people and win elections.
The minister argued that the Modi government had inherited dilapidated railways, but managed to run it during past five years by laying new tracks, improving security and facilities for passengers.
“The work for Dedicated Freight Corridor started in 2007. From 2007 to 2014, they had not even managed one kilometre of track linking. We took on this work and in just five years, we have completed 1900 km of track linking,” said Goyal.
He further claimed that during the Congress rule, not one coach was manufactured in Rae Bareli’s Modern Coach Factory (MCF) since 2007-2008 till 2014 and the first coach was made in August 2014 shortly after the BJP came to power.
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