‘Maharashtra’s railway infrastructure development ignored’

MUMBAI - Expressing concern over Maharashtra being ignored in the railway budget in terms of rail infrastructure development, various political parties Friday termed it a West Bengal-centric budget.

Terming it as a non-serious budget, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said: “Ms Banerjee has mentioned that the railways have made huge losses, but nothing on how the ministry will recover it. Moreover, Maharashtra is at a complete loss when it comes to providing railway infrastructure facilities here.”

Bhandari pointed out that none of the projects taken up under the MUTP (Mumbai Urban Transport Project) have been completed so far. “Nor has the status report of the same been given,” he added.

Agreed senior Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai, adding that in spite of the regular follow up, several Maharashtra projects have not been given a go ahead. “As per our findings, the Indian Railways have got an excess of income of around Rs.32,000 crore despite the losses. But there is no mention on how it will be utilised for the betterment of passengers,” Desai said.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik said that it is a public- friendly budget. “We welcome the budget and are glad that there are no rate hikes. This will be the first step towards controlling inflation,” he said.

Samajwadi Party’s Mumbai general secretary Rais Shaikh, welcomed the move to convert 107 trains on the harbour line from nine coach to 12 coaches, but said in terms of rail infrastructure development of Maharashtra, the budget has failed.