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Non-Gujaratis disappointed with rail budget Wednesday, February 28, 2001
VADODARA: The Union rail budget has come as a big disappointment to non-Gujarati settlers here, especially those hailing from the South and the North-East.
Most of the non-Gujarati community associations had made representations to the railway ministry for increasing frequency of trains, or introducing new trains connecting Gujarat to their homelands. Almost all such associations said that a 'political and populist' rail budget had ignored their genuine demands.
"There is only one train connecting Gujarat to Coimbatore which is an important centre of Tamil Nadu. Similarly, there is no train connectivity other important towns like Erode and Salem. They think Tamil Nadu is Chennai," said Baroda Tamil Sangam executive committee member Ravi Krishnan.
He said that there was only one train to Coimbatore which is always overcrowded due to rush from Kerala-bound passengers. "Coimbatore is about 40 km from Palakkad so many people from Kerala board Rajkot-Coimbatore Express, making reservation difficult for Coimbatore passengers," Krishnan said.
Karnataka Sangh president Jairam Shetty also said the rail budget had disappointed them. "There are about 10,000 Kannadigas here. We need more trains to the South, or, at least, the frequency should be increased. We had made several representations, but in vain. This time also we have been left out," Shetty said.
"We had met Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee last month. She had assured us that she would put one extra train that would shuttle between Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram via Vadodara. The fate of this train is still hanging fire," said Baroda Kerala Samajam executive committee member Girish Kumar.
City police commissioner J Mahapatra, who hails from Oriya, said trains to the North-East originating from Gujarat could help get states like Orissa more tourists. "People of Gujarat are fond of touring. Orissa is a good tourist spot. An extra train to Puri could have been a great help," Mahapatra said.
Laxmidevi Sharma, belonging to Haryana, said the frequency of trains to Haryana and Punjab should have been increased. Students from Manipur, Assam and West Bengal too felt that the rail budget should have had few more trains connecting Gujarat to the North-East.
"There is too much rush during vacation. They should have a students' reservation quota and increase the frequency of trains," said Sujata Mitra of Assam. Incidentally, the MSU has a sizeable number of students from the North-East.
Additional burden on GEB
The 2 per cent increase in rate of railway freight proposed in the rail budget will put an additional burden of Rs 30 crore on the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB), chairman Nalin Bhatt said on Monday.
This increase comes on the heels of Coal India Limited's (CIL) decision to hike coal prices, effective from February 1.
Talking to 'The Times of India' on Monday, Bhatt said he has been studying the budget proposals. The rail budget has also proposed 1 per cent hike in rate of furnace oil transportation. The increase in freight rates coupled with revision in prices of coal will put an additional financial burden of Rs 114 crore per annum on the GEB. This is sure to make generation of power costlier in the state, he added.
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