Cong govts presented separate rail budget to mislead people: Goyal
Railway minister Piyush Goyal on Friday criticised the previous Congress-led governments in Lok Sabha, saying they had presented separate railways budget only to mislead people.
Replying to a discussion on demands for grants of the ministry of railways, he said separate railways budget was only a “balloon” and only attracted “claps” in the House.
Mr Goyal said that the “fake” announcements were used to only “mislead people in elections”.
Citing some examples, the railway minister said some projects are pending since 1974.
He said allocations for the sector was enhanced to `1.61 lakh crore this year from `54,000 crore in 2013-14.
The increased allocation is being used on 58 super critical and 68 critical projects, he said, adding the current government fixes big target and make
all efforts to achieve that.
“We fixed a target for electrification of 6,000 km of rail line and reached 5,200 km as against 600-650 km of electrification in 2013-14,” he said.
Mr Goyal also criticised the previous governments on pension funds for the sector, stating they did not take any steps to strengthen this fund.
“In 2014, this fund was very low. We built that adequately,” he said, adding this government took calibrated steps to increase revenues for railways, rather than hiking fares by 60-70% and burdening passengers.
On criticism over slow pace of work in states, the minister said if States provide help in terms of land availability and other clearances, the project will be implemented at a fast pace.