Mamata, Mayawati, Jaya: Who said what on the Railway Budget

Having already effected a steep hike, the railway budget for 2014-15 spared passengers of any fresh revision in fares and freight rates but pitched for reforms by proposing private and Foreign Direct Investment and Public Private Partnership (PPP) to meet the resource crunch. Presenting his maiden budget for 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said he plans to leverage railway PSU resources by bringing in their investible funds in infrastructure projects. [caption id=“attachment_1609173” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sadananda Gowda. PTI[/caption] Gowda said the budget seeks course correction in the light of mismanagement, apathy, populism in starting projects and severe fund crunch that have inflicted the railways over the years. In his post-budget briefing, Gowda said the railways would continue with the Fuel Adjustment Costs (FAC) formula under which there will be periodic hike in fares and freight rates once in six months. However the NDA government was largely criticised by most opposition parties despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing it. Here are some reactions: Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Congratulations to the Railway Minister for presenting a futuristic and growth oriented budget. It is a budget for the common people. This Budget shows where we want to take the railways and at the same time where we want to take India through the railways. J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK: I commend the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and the Railway Minister (Sadananda gowda) for having practiced transparency in placing before the country the true status of the Indian Railways. Their approach is fiscally responsible and very bold. Malikarjun Kharge, Congress: It’s a pro-rich budget. The budget has nothing new to offer. There is no new new scheme, no new plan and no new railway line. They themselves have admitted that it is a plan holiday. When they are not going to give anything what is the point in talking about it. Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress: Bengal has been neglected and humiliated by the new government at the Centre. This government wants to allow FDI in defence, railways and different other sectors. In fact, the BJP government wants to allow FDI in everywhere, they want to sale off the country. Our MPs have opposed the railway budget in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. We will not sit idle once the Centre continues to deprive us. Sharad Yadav, JD(U): There was no reference to Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Kerala, Telangana and Seemandhra. These are the parts where a large chunk of the population resides. Also, all pending projects should have been completed first. Mayawati, BSP: The government had initially said that the decision to increase the fare was of the (previous) UPA government. So, the new government should have brought down the fares and freight rates considering the rising prices. The budget also speaks of privatisation and of bringing in private investment but, while doing so, there should be reservation for people belonging to the SC and ST communities. Ashok Chavan, Congress: There have been a few announcements for Mumbai, otherwise the budget has been extremely disappointing. Marathwada, Vidharba and Konkan regions have got nothing. The government had said ‘good days will come’, but Maharashtra has been completely forgotten. Baidyanath Panda, BJD: The budget is illogical as far as Odisha is concerned. The logic has to be explained. The government says priority would be given to those areas which have been neglected. It gets Rs 14,000 crore from freight services from Odisha and large parts of the state do not have rail connectivity. With agency inputs