NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha on Wednesday discussed the working of the Ministry of Railways after the opposition slammed the government for privatising Indian Railways operations and compromising the safety of passengers.
As the House was adjourned early on Wednesday owing to Holi festivities, Congress MP Rajiv Shukla, who was in the chair, declared that inconclusive discussion would continue with the Minister’s reply on Monday.
Earlier, taking part in the discussion, DMK’s NR Elango alleged that 2 million jobs in the Railways have been cut due to contract and outsourcing systems adopted for engaging the workforce.
The DMK MP said, after the BJP government came to power in 2015, a NITI Aayog committee proposed a two-decade vision to privatise major segments of India’s extensive railway network. But since then the government has implemented various privatisation measures through multiple approaches, he added.
“In the past three or four years we have lost valuable lives of 400 passengers due to train accidents, compared to zero deaths between 2018 and 2021. Why is this happening? This is happening because of privatisation of employees,” he said, while alleging that the government has been “giving the line maintenance, the infrastructure maintenance, everything to contractors”.
In his submission during the discussion, RJD’s Sanjay Yadav, while citing the high number of deaths in various accidents related to the Railways in the recent past, said, the safety system ‘Kavach’ has not been fully implemented. He also wondered how many lives to be lost before the system is put in place.
Pointing out several issues, such as the government’s ‘indifferent’ attitude in dealing with derailments, cleanliness of toilets in trains and stations, inability to handle crowds, the RJD MP said rail journeys (Safar) have become synonymous to ‘suffer’.
Former Prime Minister HD Devegowda of JD(S) said the Railway has done “a great job in the last ten years”, which can be compared with the work done in the previous 60 years due to the clear vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ambition to make India a developed nation.
Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla (YSRCP) appreciated the government for taking various steps to modernise Railways. But he said the current speed and the vision is not sufficient and has to be accelerated.
Subhasish Khuntia (BJD) accused the Centre of neglecting Odisha stating the state is getting very less considering its overall contribution to the Railways’ overall revenue.
Sanjay Singh of AAP demanded a policy to accommodate 19,000 porters across the country in the Railway system.