After not giving a single representation to Uttarakhand in its cabinet, the Narendra Modi Government further snubbed the hill State when in its first Rail Budget it gave virtually nothing to Uttarakhand. The expectations of the people with regard to the Rail Budget were very high, these expectations also arose from the fact that people of the State gave all the five parliamentary seats to BJP in the recent lok Sabha elections.
In his maiden Budget speech the Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda proposed Ramnagar-Agra Express (Weekly) and Rameshwaram-Haridwar Thirthyatra Express. These were the only gifts to Uttarakhand apart from this survey for Badrinath- Kedarnath rail route was also proposed. The people of Uttarakhand were expecting many new trains, doubling of track between Dehradun- Haridwar, Dehradun Saharanpur rail link via Vikasnagar, Delhi-Kotdwar via Meerut-Mawana–Bijnor Najibabad rail link, extension of Ramnagar-Choukhutia rail line up to Gairsain and shuttle services from Dehradun to Haridwar, Roorkee, Kotdwar and Rishikesh. The Rail Budget was also silent on the status of approved projects like Rishikesh- Karanprayag rail link, Tanakpur- Bageshwar rail line and Haridwar-Kotdwar- Ramnagar direct link.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat had recently written a letter to the Rail Minister in which he had given a detailed account of the aspirations of the people of the State. Mahendra Singh Bhandari a resident of Dehradun told The Pioneer that the people of the State were expecting new things but it appears that the Railway Minister has forgotten the State. “Uttarakhand gave all the five seats to the BJP, but now it appears we have committed a big mistake by being so generous to the BJP” he said.
Om Prakash Singh a resident of Kanwali Road said that Dehradun Gorakhpur Express which runs twice a week should ply daily; he added that this train is a very important and large numbers of people use it to go to Eastern Uttar Pradesh. He questioned the propriety of a steep 14 per cent hike just before the Rail Budget and said that the hike was unwarranted as no Government increased the train fares so much. Herbertpur resident Narayan Prasad was furious on the neglect of Uttarakhand in the budget; he said that the while China has developed an elaborate railway network on its side, the failure of the Indian Government to prepare a proper rail network on its side could prove disastrous for the country.