Rajya Sabha members raise concern over railways' poor financial health, project delays

Several Rajya Sabha members on Tuesday raised concerns over poor financial health of railways, decline in job opportunities and delay in execution of major projects, besides privatisation of national transporter. Participating in a discussion on working of Ministry of Railways, several members referred to large number of vacancies in railways and said se should be filled up, reby providing job opportunities to young generation.

Biy Viswam of CPI said railways has around three lakh vacancies and se should be filled up. Opposing privatisation of trains and stations, he said national transporter has "forgotten its social aspect and social commitment". V Vijayasai Reddy of YSRCP said railways w has an operating ratio of 98.4 per cent, which is worst in last 10 years. Moreover, railways' revenue surplus is also falling and suggested that "priority should be given to augmentation of its internal resources."

He also said that fatality due to accidents has declined this year and hygiene at railway station has improved. Sanjay Singh of AAP said that employment opportunities are being igred by railways. government is increasing outsourced works in railways, where contractual labourers are being exploited. Praful Patel of NCP raised concerns over delay in several railways projects and suggested that government should think of cost benefit analysis of major works.

He, however, supported PPP model in railways, saying "we should be open minded." Jose K Mani of KCM said that railway is overloaded with work and several projects such as doubling of line in Kerala are long delayed. Neeraj Shekhar of BJP said Opposition is misguiding people about performance of railways. Indian Railways has performed well in last five years, he said.

railways has installed 2.38 lakh bio-toilets between 2014 and 2018. It has a capital expenditure of over Rs one lakh crore, has done doubling of 28,000 km tracks. Highlighting safety records, Shekhar said that it has t witnessed a single accident in last one year. Over operating ratio, he said that it was due to implementation of Seventh Pay Commission by government in railways.

Shekhar also criticised TMC member Derek O'Brien, who had earlier alleged step-morly treatment to states governed by parties or than BJP, particularly West Bengal. According to him, government has put 20 per cent more fund to West Bengal than allocation made under a railway minister from TMC. He also said several projects in West Bengal were stuck as state government was t providing land to railways.

Husain Dalwai of Congress said that revenue of Indian Railways should be increased. Dalwai also raised safety issue of Mumbai suburban trains, saying that according to GRP data, 3,202 people died in 2016-17 and 3,014 in 2018-19. He asked railways to enhance security measures to reduce high number of fatalities. R S Bharathi of DMK said that government should complete second unit of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Perambur.

Maj Kumar Jha of RJD, Veer Singh of BSP and V P Vaishya of AGP and K K Rsh of CPI(M) also participated in debate and raised concerns over privatisation of railways. Mir Mohammad Fayaz of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party said, "We do t want bullet train. We should be contended with rail connectivity with rest of network."

Ram Narain Dudi of BJP demanded that rail connectivity should be provided for pilgrim centre of Pushkar in Rajasthan. ors who participated in debate are G C Chandrasekhar (Congress), Kahkashan Perween (JDU), Jugalsinh Mathurji Lokhandwala (BJP), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) and Satish Chandra Dubey (BJP).