RJD chief lalu Prasad has vehemently opposed the idea of bullet train which came one step closer to become a reality in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inked an agreement with his Japan counterpart Shinzo Abe.
lalu, a former Railway Minister, in a letter to PM Modi urged him to explain the rationale behind such a costly project. “I just pray and hope (that) 90% poor and deprived are not going to get run over by it,” said lalu in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, copy of which was also sent to Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday. The letter has also been posted on Twitter.
On an earlier occasion too lalu had opposed bullet train project and had slammed Modi Government for possible privatisation of the railways.
It is ironical, said lalu, that Railways has decided to ride on a white elephant like a bullet train at a time when it is facing its worst-ever existential crisis. “Decision to invest nearly `1 lakh crore in a single bullet train project may prove to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back,” he said.
lalu said the railway is fighting a grim battle for its survival and at this time committing investment of nearly `1 lakh crore in an ‘unviable’ bullet train project is just like putting cart before the horse.
lalu who served as Railway Minister between 2004-09 in Manmohan Singh Government, suggested that Railways should utilise its scarce resources strategically to fill the gap by adopting a system based approach to improve the utilization of existing assets. Time bound completion of eastern and western dedicated freight corridor should also be ensured, he added.
“Bullet train is an expensive luxury which a poor country like India can ill afford and which is neither sustainable nor replicable,” said lalu while asking the PM to explain the rationale behind investing approx `1 lakh crore in a single project like bullet train in a nation where millions of people die due to poverty, illness, malnutrition and who defecate in open.
The RJD supremo also lamented that the budget allocation were being reduced for major sectors like agriculture, health and education and said there lives a danger of poor and farmers being ignored at the cost of this project.
lalu asked, “What percentage of India’s population would get benefited by this hugely costly project running on such a small distanceIJ Government of India’s priorities appears to be misdirected.” He also referred to the introduction of economical and air-conditioned
Garib Rath by him and said this train was benefiting millions of poor commuters as well as aspiring migrants who travel to realize their dreams to city.
He further pointed out that Bullet trains even at 1.5 times air fares will be a loss making proposition for the railways from day one and will exacerbate its severe financial crisis. “This may result in closure of un-remunerative branch lines/trains, massive retrenchment, corporatisation and privatisation of railways. This will further lower the morale of railwaymen, which is already at all time low. It will also face stiff popular resistance from railwaymen and common men alike,” he apprehended.