BJP flays rail budget proposals

New Delhi, Mar 7 (UNI) The BJP today continued its attack on Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his budget for 2006-07 as the Rajya Sabha proceeded with its discussions on the proposals.

Speaking from his wheelchair, Dr Gyan Prakash of the BJP said the Railway Minister projected himself as the champion of the poor while emptying the people's pockets.

Nobody, including the UPA partners, were impressed by his tactics he said, pointing out that the CPI themselves had described the introduction of air-conditioned Garib Rath trains as a ''mockery''.

The much-touted introduction of 'kulhars' in the Railways for serving tea had not helped the potter community at all, with the total purchases of the railways not exceeding Rs two crores in the last two years and leaving the platforms and tracks dirty, he said.

The life, property and dignity of passengers, Mr Prakash alleged, was not at all safe with murders, rapes and dacoities becoming the order of the day and the Railway Protection Force allowing these things to happen under its nose.

The RPF should be renamed Railway Pilferage Force, he mocked.

The Minister wants to run super-fast expresses but are our tracks fit to take these fast trains, he asked.

Mr Motilal Vora (Cong) supported the budget and said it focussed around the common man who has been rightly described by the Railway Minister as 'God'.

The fiscal health of the Railways had improved tremendously during the last three years and there was a reduction in the accident rate. The Minister, he said, had allayed fears about privatisation by stating that it would not be handed over to private people.

The senior Congress leader wanted the Railways to accord higher priority for improving Railway infrastructure in the backward Chhattisgarh state.

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