New Delhi, Feb 24 (Inditop.com) Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday presented her rail budget in the Lok Sabha despite a restive opposition that kept up its protests against rising prices before and after her passenger-friendly speech, forcing the adjournment of both houses for the second successive day.
In fact, the only concession, if it could be termed that, made by the opposition to Banerjee was to let her present the rail budget in the Lok Sabha, with much of the first hour of the house being confined to demands that price rise be discussed under an adjournment motion that requires voting.
Speaker Meira Kumar rejected this outright, with the result that the opposition continued its protests when the house reassembled after the lunch break at 3 p.m., prompting her to adjourn the proceedings for the day.
The Rajya Sabha also witnessed three adjournments, the last one for the day, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led the opposition in demanding that the price rise be discussed under rules 167 and 168 that requires not only voting but that the sense of the house also be recorded.
The government stuck to its stand that it was only ready for a short duration discussion, that had originally scheduled for Tuesday and which does not require voting at its conclusion.
As for the railway budget, passengers were spared a fare hike, freight rates were lowered for some essential items and 54 new trains announced for 2010-11, while Banerjee also promised a new model to promote private investment in expanding the world’s second largest railroad network under a single management.
“We have saved Rs.2,000 crore ($40 million) because of the hard work of our employees and austerity measures. There will be no increase in passenger fares,” Banerjee told the Lok Sabha in her 110-minute speech.
Accordingly, she also announced a cut in freight tariff for kerosene and grain, upgrades of 94 stations, 522 diagnostic centres, target of 1,000 km new lines, 10 auto ancillary hubs, several high-speed passenger rail corridors, six new drinking water plants and housing for all railway staff in 10 years.
Dressed in a white and green sari and her trademark rubber slippers, Dressed in a white and green sari and her trademark rubber slippers, Banerjee presented her budget in the Lok Sabha amidst a constant din from the opposition that attacked her for being pro-West Bengal.
But she was not one to be deterred. “Where is Cuttack?” she shouted at opposition MPs. At various other points in the speech, during which her Bengali pronunciation led to some laughter, she sternly asked MPs to quieten down.
While Meira Kumar asked the MPs to sit down and let Banerjee finish her presentation, the minister did her bit by frequently interrupting her speech to tell them to let her complete the job.
“I am also a human being,” a frustrated Banerjee said at one point. And carried on gamely, not even stopping for a sip of water.
This was Banerjee’s fourth budget of her career as railway minister and the second for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its second straight term after being voted back to office in May last year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee were among those present in the house as Banerjee presented her budget.
Indian Railways runs the world’s second largest network under a single management with a network of 64,099 route km to ferry 18.9 million passengers on 7,000 trains daily from 6,906 stations. It also runs 4,000 freight trains to carry 850 million tonnes of cargo.
