Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk

TIME TO DELIVER: Mamata's pro-people proposals in the Rail Budget has been applauded by many.

        

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Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented Railway Budget in Parliament on Friday without any hike in fares and freight charges. The other pro-people proposals include cheaper tatkal tickets, 12 non-stop trains between big cities under the name Duronto, air conditioned double-decker intercity trains and low cost air-conditioned Yuva trains for rural youth and low income groups.

Mamata also announced that rail tickets would also be sold through 5,000 post offices across the country, through automatic vending machines in 200 stations and also through 50 mobile ticketing vans.

The Minister also proposed the Izzat scheme with special passes for unorganised sector workers, new schemes for railway employees and relaxation in rules for student concessions.

CNN-IBN discussed Mamata's Railway Budget with senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Atul Anjan, former railway minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Naik and Trinamool Congress leader Derek O' Brien.

While some proposals are being applauded, others are being criticized as being unrealistic.

Mamata and former railway minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Lalu Prasad also had a spat during the Budget speech. Mamata also criticised, in a veiled manner, her predecessor's tenure as she said that Railways had incurred a loss in the last financial year.

Lalu later snubbed Mamata saying her Budget had nothing new.

However, Derek O' Brien did not agree that Mamata was targeting Lalu in Parliament.

"I don't think she mocked Lalu. In fact at one point she folded her hands and said Laluji I have a lot of respect for you so please allow me to present my Budget," said Derek.

Is this a please-all Budget?

CPI leader Atul Anjan said even though the Budget looks good at first glance but Mamata had failed to address many critical issues.

"Prime Minister has said that within 100 days every ministry must perform and in this Railway Budget hundreds of assurances are there. So how much time it will take to fulfill the commitments and aspirations has to be seen. The welcoming feature is that freight and ticket rates have not been increased. Some of the schemes introduced are good. I don't know about the double-decker experiment and if it will work or not. There was a double-decker train between Trichur and Thiruvananthapuram but that was withdrawn after a year. Also very little has been said about passenger amenities. Even drinking water issue has not been addressed," said Anjan.