Reacting on the Rail Budget presented on Thursday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said it was a hopeless budget and there was not even a ray hope for the railways which, he said, was a symbol of national unity.
Extending greetings to his ‘old friend’ Suresh Prabhu, former Railway Minister Nitish said the condition of the Railways has become bad to worse as the Centre was not helping in its revival. “The Budget is only a cosmetic exercise and there is no suggestion for reforms. This Budget has been presented only to maintain the tradition of the presentation of Rail Budget, nothing more than that,” said Nitish, who presented Rail Budget five times.
Another former Rail Minister and RJD supremo lalu Prasad commented, “The Indian Railways is completely derailed. This Budget is only a farce. During my time Railways was in profit but today the condition has become so worse that it is not in a position to sustain its own expenses. The biggest question is how the Railways will provide benefits to the passengersIJ”
Nitish said the timely running of the trains, passengers’ safety, cleanliness, condition of railway stations and freight traffic was no longer the priority. He said he had started fully non-reserved Jan Sadharan Express but instead of bringing betterment in it its name has been changed to Antyodaya Express. “There is no scope of reforms because there is no concrete proposal for the reforms,” he commented.
The CM was also critical of high speed trains and said it would, even if introduced in one section, would be only showcasing and India will join the club of some countries which have high speed trains.