The historic neglect of Uttarakhand in the successive railway budgets continued this time too when Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu ignored the interests of the State in his maiden budget in Parliament on Thursday.
The expectation of the people of the hill State from the first full-fledged budget of Narendra Modi Government was very high but Prabhu failed to oblige them. The only solace, however, was that the railway Minister kept the passenger fares unchanged.
A resident of Banjarawala Anusuya Prasad said that the people of the State have now become used to neglect in the railway budgets. He said that the budget had no mention of the proposal to the connect the Char Dhams with railway network.
Incidentally, the NDA Government in its interim budget had proposed to bring the Char Dhams on the railway network. Prabhu in his budget speech said that an amount of Rs39000 crore would be earmarked for connecting strategically important North Eastern States and Kashmir with the rail network of the nation.
MPS Bisht, a resident of Raipur said that the railway Minister should have included Uttarakhand also in this project as it borders an aggressive and unpredictable country like China.
He said that the while China has developed an elaborate road and railway network on its side, the failure of Indian Government to prepare a proper rail network on its side could prove disastrous for the country.
People however appreciated the steps like ensuring cleanliness at stations and trains, modern toilets at 650 new stations, bio-toilets in the trains, online disposal of bed rolls, and 24x7 helpline number for security related complaints.
Santosh Rawat, a resident of Kargi Chowk, said that the plans for a total revamp (Kayakalp) of the Indian Railways is very good and it remains to be seen how it is implemented.
Interestingly many people supported the declaration of railway Minister not to start any new trains and instead focus on the strengthening the existing facilities. “For the first time I have seen such a foresighted railway budget which is free from political compulsion and gave no freebies” said Narendra Singh, a resident of Defence Colony.
Uttarakhand was expecting some new trains, 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 railway Minister also kept silent on the status of approved projects like Rishikesh- Karanprayag , Tanakpur- Bageshwar and Haridwar- Kotdwar- Ramnagar direct link.