Stating that Railways need “big investments” if facilities like new stations, railway lines and speed trains are to be created, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday for this reason his Government would increase public-private partnership even as he rejected the charge that the national transporter would be privatised.
“Privatisation is needed for new stations, railway lines and speed trains,” said Goyal, who was replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha to the discussion on Demands for Grants of the Railways.
He said Government would increase public-private partnership in the railways which was also initiated by the Congress-led-dispensation at the centre. “You failed, we are capable… why shed crocodile tears,” the Minister said while referring to the issue of privatisation and the need for inviting private investments in the railways.
Goyal said railways was in for a big expansion and referred to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech which said Rs 50 lakh crore was needed to be spent on Railways in the next 10 to 12 years. Goyal said Railways are spending money in new coaches and single automatic signaling system for the entire country.
With several Opposition leaders accusing the Government of ushering in privatisation of the railways, Goyal said: “There is no question of privatisation of the railways. The railways cannot be privatised. However, if we have to increase the facilities in railways then obviously we need investments for it. We have taken a decision to encourage public private partnerships and we will also corporatise some units.”
The Minister said Railways was running in profit despite Rs 22,000 crore paid to workers after Seventh pay commission report. He said Railways borrowing was at Rs 18,000 crore.
He said punctuality of trains was his priority and for this automatic monitoring of trains arrival and departure times would be in place and it would be not left to be handled by the station masters as used to happen in olden times.
Goyal detailed figures to claim that the Modi Government has performed much better in boosting both infrastructure and safety parameters of the national transporter as compared to the UPA era. The minister also highlighted how the government had installed around 2,10,000 bio-toilets in trains so far and in next 12 months all trains in the country would have them.
During his hour-long speech there were frequent protests by Congress members, as their leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused him of misleading the House and he was backed by his party colleagues.
He justified ending the tradition of presenting a separate Budget for the Railways saying, “Khayali pulao banane ka purana railway Budget ko Modiji ne khatam kar diya, jahan hazaro wade kiye jate thay (Modi ended the practice of separate railway budget which made vote bank promises).” He also went on to quote Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “Main hamesha vade leke nahin, irade leke aaya (I bring determination/commitment and not promises).”
He said track kilometre grew by 39,000 km in 64 years, while in the past five years it grew by 7,000 km. Similarly, he said the railways increased its running kilometre by 12,000 km between 1950-2014, while from 2014-2019, it grew by 5,000 running kilometre.
“The work for Dedicated Freight Corridor started in 2007. From 2007 to 2014, they had not even managed one kilometre of track linking. We took on this work and in just five years, we have completed 1900 km of track linking,” said Goyal.
He again claimed that during the Congress rule, not one coach was manufactured in Rae Bareli’s Modern Coach Factory since 2007-2008 till 2014 and the first coach was made in August 2014 shortly after the BJP came to power. There was no protest or response coming from the Congress benches.
“We want the MCF to increase its manufacturing capacity to 5000 and the trains coming out of there go to the entire world. We want it to be the largest factory in the world,” he said. Goyal said that between 2004 and 2009, around 206 accidents took place every year, while the number was 153 between 2009 and 2011. He said that during the BJP’s tenure, it reduced to around 100 every year.
Lashing out at successive State Governments in West Bengal, Goyal said several projects had been held up because the State was unable to provide land to railways. “The oldest project in West Bengal is running from 1974-75. The projects don’t get completed because the Government doesn’t give us land. If they give us land, work will immediately start,” he said, adding similar problems were also faced in Kerala.