Railways’ ‘privatisation’: Opposition comes down on government

Opposition parties severely criticised the Narendra Modi government for concentrating their efforts in ‘privatising’ the Railways in the last seven years even as Railway Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated that none of the assets are being sold to the private players and the national carrier will not be privatised.

The Opposition leaders said privatisation of various railway infrastructure and services would only benefit corporates and loss of revenue for the railways pushing it to the brink like the Air India and the Indian Airlines. It would also mean exponential rise in fares for common men.

At the conclusion of the debate on Demand For Grants for Railways, Mr. Goyal said the government has a long-term vision and does not make announcements for electoral benefits. If the State governments were to cooperate, he said the experience of travelling on the Railways can be better than flying.

“When a road is constructed, who owns the road? The government. But on that road all sorts of cars ply include private ones. Similarly on the railway tracks which are owned by the Railways, if a few private players want to run modern trains providing a comfortable journey to the passengers what is wrong in it,” Mr. Goyal said. The private equity, he said, is only being used to bring in modern amenities and technology. “Nobody needs to be worried. The Railways is the government’s asset. Nobody is privatising it and no one can do it.”

Congress leader Naranbhai J Rathwa said in the last seven years, instead of augmenting the rail infrastructure, the government’s emphasis has been carting out various lines and services to corporate houses. “The Railways should remain with the state, because the profit driven private sector will simply not run trains on unprofitable routes and will alarmingly increase the ticket fare to increase their profit margins,” Mr. Rathwa said.

DMK leader P. Wilson said privatisation does not always mean improvement in services or efficiency. The catering services were privatised almost two decades back yet there are complaints from passengers. “Though the Railway Minister claims that railways will not be privatised, when activities of railways are privatised, the income of railways will deplete, resulting in financial crisis which eventually will become like Air India and Indian Airlines.”

RJD MP Manoj K Jha said the government should resist the temptation to offer assets (public or railways) to capitalists through the monetisation of these assets. He said history will “judge you [the government] by the benefits provided by you to commoners and by benefits provided to corporates”.

Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai said the government, instead of constructing the bullet train between Mumbai-Ahmedabad, should have focused on improving the existing infrastructure. Mr. Goyal, in his concluding speech, hit out at the Maharashtra government for delaying land acquisition for the project.

Aam Aadmi Party member Sanjay Singh quoted the example of the Habibganj railway station in Uttar Pradesh which was recently redeveloped by a private entity, where the cost of parking a two-wheeler is ₹50 per hour. Responding to this, Mr. Goyal said more than ₹100 crore was spent in converting this station into a world class one. “The private entity here is only charging the fee for the service they provide,” he said.

Even BJP’s own members and allies flagged many problems. JD(U) leader Ram Nath Thakur rued that despite many letters to Mr. Goyal, a train from Samastipur connecting Delhi has not been run. BJP MP Neeraj Shekhar said the government must quell the rumours that to reduce the travel time, many stations will be skipped entirely.