Initiating a discussion on the working of the Ministry of Railways, TMC’s Derek O’Brien asked the government to “clarify that there will be no privatisation of the railways”. Taking a swipe at the government’s plans for disinvestment of Air India and LIC, he said the government’s “new campaign is Sell India”. “Let the Minister, after this discussion, clarify that there will be no privatisation of the Railways. Say this on the floor of the House. I think the new campaign is ‘Sell India’. Sell everything — PSUs, Air India, LIC,” he said. He said the total working expenditure of the Railways “is up by 32 per cent, whereas actually it should be coming down”. “Revenue deficit is down with Rs 75,000 crore now. Since the Railway Budget and the General Budget got amalgamated, the people of India must know that the Railways used to pay a dividend of Rs 7,000 crore or Rs 8,000 crore every year to the Government of India,” he said, and claimed that it now takes money from the government. Naranbhai Rathwa of the Congress complained that it was tough to get information as there was no separate budget for Railways now. About the plan to have the Chairman of the Railway Board as its CEO, he said, “It seems like a plan to privatise.” BJP’s GVL Narsimha Rao said there was “sparse investment” in the Ministry of Railways before 2014. “The technology was old. The decision-making processes were slow. It was lack of vision, lack of leadership and lack of ambition which actually restricted the growth of the railway sector.” He said the capital expenditure of Railways has shot up after the Narendra Modi government came to power. “Over 6,500 new infrastructure projects with an outlay of over Rs 107 lakh crore is what has been envisaged and Railways being a very important part of our infrastructure network, it has received all the priority it required and it would continue to receive," Rao said. The discussion will continue on Tuesday and conclude with the minister’s response.
