Budget low on content, high on rhetoric: Cong

Budget low on content, high on rhetoric: Cong

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 05:46 PM IST
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Indian Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu poses for media representatives as he arrives at Parliament House to table the Railway Budget in New Delhi on February 25, 2016. AFP PHOTO / Prakash SINGH |

NEW DELHI : The Congress on Thursday described the railway budget as a huge disappointment as it is low on content and high on rhetoric. Congress leaders Ashwani Kumar and Adhir Ranjan said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has himself admitted ‘fiscal mismanagement’ by stating that the operating ratio has increased from 88.5% last year to 92% this year.

A lower figure of operating ratio is regarded better as an indicative of better financial health of the system, they told a Press conference here, underlining that the increase of the capital expenditure to Rs 1.21 lakh crore would be a further strain on the finances of the railways.

They accused the Modi government of systematic privatisation of the railways as repeatedly indicated by the railway minister in his innovative financial mechanisms to pass off the prime government properties to the private hands through the PPP (public-private partnership) mode.

Failure of the railway budget to lift the national mood is reflected in the Sensex tanking to below 23000, losing about 100 points, they said.

“Clearly the budget has no merit except for the rhetoric, platitudes, false promises and hopes, reminding one of ‘Mungeri Lal ke haseen sapne’ and ‘Sheikh chilli ki kahaniyan.’ The proof of pudding is in its eating,” the Congress leaders said.

They said the budget is only a bundle of long term promises which may only be fulfilled by 2020 as stated by the minister on his own words.

They said Prabhu gave no roadmap for punctuality of trains, except citing reasons for delays and promising 95% punctuality only by 2020.

The Congress leaders laughed at the promise of ‘reservation on demand’ in the next few years, wondering if it were Prabhu’s own ‘jumla’ like the PM’s one to put Rs 15 lakh in each bank account as the reality is that in the Northern Railway the VIP trains like Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duranto are running with a shortfall of 2-4 coaches.

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