Lalu heaps praise on railway unions for posing no problem

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) At a time when the SBI management was given a tough time by its employees' unions on the pension issue, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad was today all praise for Railway employees' unions, saying they had ''so far spared me from any big trouble.'' Mr Prasad, who gave away the National Awards for Outstanding Services, 2006 to meritorious railway employees, said, ''I must compliment railway unions for giving no trouble to me. I feel they deserve an award for this.'' His comment evoked a peal of laughter from the awardees and their family members.

Assuring that his ministry was committed to bettering the lot of railway employees, Mr Prasad, however, impressed upon them to improve the safety parameters in the country's largest public sector enterprise.

''Accidents do happen, at times because of human error. However to err is human,'' he said, falling back on a Shakespearean adage.

''But it is of paramount importance to keep improving the safety standards because even one train accident can besmirch the image of the Railways.'' Then came the punchline.

''When an accident takes place, there is a clamour for my head.

People start saying that 'throw Lal out.' But if I have to do that, all of you will have to share the responsibility for this,'' he said.

This brought the roof of Vigyan Bhavan -- the venue of the function -- almost down. Mr Prasad was also seen joining the laughter.

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