Rail budget cold-shouldered Gujarat: minister

Ahmedabad, Feb 26 (UNI) The Railway Budget for 2007-08 has ignored the state of Gujarat in its march towards progress, state government spokespersons and ministers I K Jadeja and Saurabh patel said today.

The budget, presumably presented for 'aam admi', has been a disappointment, they said in a release here.

When Gujarat is fast progressing economically it is as usual getting step-motherly treatment from the Centre. When it is accepted that ports of Gujarat are vital for country's evolving business activities, the Rail Ministry has ignored the demand for linking the ports with railway lines to enhance container traffic, they said.

If proper rail links are not provided for port development it could severely hamper economic development, they said in the release.

''The railway minister has failed to seize the opportunity to attract container traffic passing through roads to the railways. All these seems to have gone unnoticed by the Railway Minister Laloo Prasad'', they said adding that now only 10 crore metric tonnes of port container traffic will go through rail network with 80 per cent going on roads for lack of an alternative.

Whenever Gujarat has made a reasonable and justified demand to the Centre in the past it has been roundly ignored, Mr Jadeja and Mr Patel said. Whether it is the plea for metre guage track conversion, or for a new rail link or for a third track for Ahmedabad-Mumbai or the request for Gandhidham-Vadodara intercity or for a long distance train from Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, all such requests have been ignored including the one for a direct train to Nagpur and a circular local train in Ahmedabad.

They said the Centre has cold shouldered the state's plea for shifting Western Railway headquarter from Mumbai to Ahmedabad though the state earns the maximum revenue for the Western Railway.

All these clearly points to the fact that Gujarat has been victimised by the UPA government, they alleged.

Though the Union Minister of State for Railway Naranbhai Rathwa is an Advasis yet enhancing rail facilities in Gujarat's remote Adivasi region has been ignored, the ministers said.

''It is behove for the rail minister to brag about the 20,000 crore profit when tragedies like Samjauhta Express and other similar ones are taking place with painful regularity'', Mr Jadeja said.

He also made mockery of ''garib raths'' saying it has no relevance to an ordinary poor person. Only the well-to-do benefit, they said adding by cutting AC sleeper coach fares by four to six per cent the UPA government has only shown its contempt for the poor.

UNI