Rajya Sabha members demand completion of pending railway projects

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) Ruling and opposition members in the Rajya Sabha on Monday urged the Railways Ministry to finish its projects that have been pending for several years even as they put forward fresh demands to set up new tracks in their respective regions.

During discussions on the working of the ministry, AIADMK leader M Thambidurai said many projects related to Tamil Nadu are still pending.

He said one of the pending projects is a new rail line from Pondicherry to Bengaluru via Jolarpet, Krishnagiri and Hosur, which would connect two states (Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) and a Union Territory (Pondicherry).

He said that there is an urgent need to double up the railway line between Trichy and Erode via Theroor.

Thambidurai said safety of women is very important and railways should make provisions of providing police in every coach, which will also address the problem of unemployment.

BJP member Sanjay Seth lauded the increased budget allocation of Rs 19,858 crore for railway projects in his state Uttar Pradesh by the NDA government.

He said that during the UPA regime, less than Rs 40,000 crore was allocated and during NDA Rs 1.16 lakh crore has been allocated for security.

BJP member Mithlesh Kumar said that Mailani to Shahjahanpur to Farukkhabad line was approved in 2010 with a length of 105 kilometers. The government at that time had issued Rs 1,000 crore in budget, but due to disinterest of the government it could not be completed.

He requested railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to complete the project using the budget allocated for railway projects in UP.

Kumar also demanded a new train connecting Shahjahanpur to Delhi via Ghaziabad and requested for a two-minute stop of Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express at Shahjahanpur.

Independent member Ajit Kumar Bhuyan said there was an announcement to set up a power generating station in Assam but nothing substantial has happened on ground.

He said there is a long pending demand for creating separate zones for north-eastern states as it will boost employment.

TMC (M) member G K Vasan demanded sanctioning of Kumbakonam-to-Mumbai train project.

BJP member Rameswar Teli referred to an announcement made by Vaishnaw that a Vande Bharat train will run between Guwahati and Dibrugarh and requested the minister to start it soon.

CPI (M) member A A Rahim raised concern about safety and lack of recruitment as well as alleged ignorance of Kerala by the railway ministry.

He also alleged prevailing stress in the working of loco pilots and linked the same to railways safety.

"The total number of sanctioned post of loco pilots is 1,37,000, out of this more than 20,000 posts of loco pilot are remaining vacant. As a result, working hours of loco pilot are highly uncertain. They do not even receive a weekly rest. This inhuman overtime work severely affects the safety of Indian railways," Rahim said.

He said that a high power committee report recommended reducing the working hours of loco pilots to 9 hours.

Rahim also demanded the railway minister to revoke the decision of re-engaging retired railways employees.

He alleged that the railway is exploiting passengers by rebranding passenger trains as express trains and charging higher fare.

CPI member P P Suneer, BJP members Narhari Amin and Rajib Bhattacharjee also participated in the discussion. PTI PRS SKC HVA

Source: PTI