BIHAR: Promising the next rail budget to be "unprecedented and astonishing', Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said its thrust will be on further expanding the network in the country.
"The next budget for the Railways will be unprecedented and astonishing. We want to further expand its network in the country and reach such people who have not yet got the opportunity to use its service," Prasad said while addressing a gathering here after flagging off a new train between Motihari and Varanasi.
Describing the Railways as the country's 'lifeline', he said, "Though India has the largest rail network in the world, we want to take it to the people who are not yet reached."
Thirty-nine rail-road over-bridges were being constructed in the state and the rail-cum-road bridge over river Ganga between Digha and Sonepur -- declared as national project -- will be completed by 2009, Prasad said while accusing his predecessors of ignoring the state in awarding rail projects.
He thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for extending support for the project.
Prasad said repeated attempts were made to implicate him in "false cases" by his opponents "but I survived and tried my best for the uplift of poor people".
Dubbing the Nitish Kumar government as "a government on contract", he alleged that recruitments to government jobs were made "on the basis of contracts" ignoring the State Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Commission.
Union minister of state for food Akhilesh Prasad Singh, RJD MPs Moti-ur-Rehman and Sitaram Singh also spoke on the occasion.
