Away from the world of Rs90,000 crore surplus and the great railway turnaround stories, Mamata Banerjee’s first railway budget is likely to be heavily skewed in favour of passenger amenities, which in the last 5 years had been virtually outsourced to the private sector.
Promising a people-friendly budget, the new railway minister said Maa Mati Manush (mother, earth and mankind) would be her budget’s cornerstone.
Several privately-operated railway services, like the new railway inquiry number, 139, that bombards callers with inane advertisements before dispensing information, or the bad catering currently seen even on Rajdhani routes may well be on their way out.
“I am against the private sector entering existing railway services, public-private partnership is alright for new projects,” Banerjee said. She sought mediapersons’ suggestions on improving passenger amenities, and summoned member (traffic) Sriprakash to sit in on the meeting. Reportedly, Banerjee has had several run-ins with railway board members over privatisation, especially catering, platform kiosks and facilities provided to passengers at railway stations.
She said that even suggestions that a final reservation list should be out four hours before train departs, rather than the current two-hour period, will be looked into.
“I will also review the performance of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and Concor or Container Corporation,” she said. These were set up a while back.
She countered the impression that she was “only a Bengali” by saying, “Why is it that only I am accused of favouring the people of my state? Why isn’t it pointed out when others do it? In fact, I feel I am spending more time here than in the state that has voted me in.”
