The Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda's plan to lay more emphasis on providing passenger amenities and safety were welcomed by the railway passengers. In his budget speech, Gowda hiked the allocation for cleanliness by 40 per cent, proposed to introduce pre-cooked ready to eat meals, food courts at stations, Wi-Fi services at major stations and recruitment of 11,000 women constables for women's safety.
Just after the Railway budget was presented in the parliament this correspondent visited the Dehradun Railway station and tried a take their reactions on the slew of measures proposed by the Railway Minister. A Doon resident Jayaram Tiwari said that the recent fare increase can be justified only with increase in passenger amenities. He welcomed the Railway Minister's initiative to invite participation of private companies in providing facilities to the passengers. He said that the decision to install Close Circuit Television (CCTV) to keep a watch on the cleanliness at railway stations is step in right direction. Vikasnagar resident SK Pandey said that the food provided by the railways in the trains is of worst quality and the decision to allow private players to provide Pre Cooked ready to eat meals in the trains is a good alternative. He said that railways have large space available at the stations and the decision to open Food Courts at select stations is good but it should be extended to all the stations across the country.
Manish Bisht, a businessman by profession, welcomed the decision to increase the online booking capacity to 7,200 tickets per minute and to allow simultaneous log in of 1.2 lakh users. He said that by increasing the capacity of online ticket booking the problem of over-crowding of IRCTC site would be over. Bisht said that the decision to increase the speeds of the trains in some sectors to 160-200 km/ hour is good for long distance commuters but he cautioned that the track safety and competence should be properly checked before introducing the high speed trains.
Ganga Rawat, a resident of Mianwala of Dehradun, said that the decision to recruit women constable to escort ladies coaches is very good as safety of women is a big issue while travelling by trains. RN Joshi, a retired Government servant, said the Railways Minister's plans to introduce battery-operated cars for differently-abled and senior citizens at major stations are good humanitarian steps. Arpit Jain of Dehradun cited the Railway Minister's decision to develop 50 railway stations into ultra modern stations with Public Private Participation (PPP) mode as a good commercial move. "I wish Dehradun station also figures in the list of 50 stations and if the Wi-Fi facilities are also introduced here as per the budget proposals than it would be an icing on the cake," he added.