Need visionary ministers at the helm of railways
Indian Railway is undoubtedly the backbone of our nation's transportation and millions of people have been making their livelihood from railways which never had ministers with a vision and mission. We need visionary ministers at the helm of railways
OUR UNION Railway ministers so far never took any interest in the ministry or the department of railway as such which serves as the lifeline of India’s economy. Indian Railway is undoubtedly the backbone of our nation’s transportation and millions of people have been making their livelihood from this railway which never had ministers with a vision and mission.
It is really a sad commentary of affairs but as it says truth is always a bitter pill to swallow, the harsh reality remains the same. There is no need to go back into the pages of history of our railway ministers’ work and achievements, but if we can take the cases of recent two Union railway ministers ie, former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and our acting Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee, we can well understand how the ministry had been doing all these years and what personal contribution they did for the ministry or the railways.
The biggest challenge for the railway remains from its ministers. Now when Lalu Prasad Yadav remained minister, he used to do up-down on Delhi-Patna line and for most of the time his concentration remained in the politics of Bihar. Now, we have Mamta Banerjee who extended that line up to West Bengal. She lives mostly in West Bengal and spares little time in the ministry which is also doing more harm than good.
If Lalu Prasad Yadav was looking after two states ie, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Mamta added another state in the list ie, West Bengal. Even after that the progress of projects that have already been announced in previous railway budgets for these states, remain unsatisfactory. The state of Uttar Pradesh which shares three zones- Northern railway, North-Eastern railway and North-Central railway and is one of the most populated state of India, remained low in the list of priority of the projects.
Likewise, the other zones didn’t get much attention from the railway ministers as they keep on playing the card of regional politics. When a person gets inducted into the central cabinet then he/she must look after the condition of its department at the national level. How many visits our Mamta Banerjee has made in recent past to the Southern zones, Western zone or the Central zones? The problem remains the same with every minister. Our politicians are so myopic in vision that they can’t see beyond the boundaries of their state. Today, we need ministers who can really take the needs of entire nation with them. And before adding new trains to gain cheap publicity, let the minister do some work to add on new tracks and finish the dedicated freight corridor project at the earliest.
The biggest challenge for the railway remains from its ministers. Now when Lalu Prasad Yadav remained minister, he used to do up-down on Delhi-Patna line and for most of the time his concentration remained in the politics of Bihar. Now, we have Mamta Banerjee who extended that line up to West Bengal. She lives mostly in West Bengal and spares little time in the ministry which is also doing more harm than good.
If Lalu Prasad Yadav was looking after two states ie, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Mamta added another state in the list ie, West Bengal. Even after that the progress of projects that have already been announced in previous railway budgets for these states, remain unsatisfactory. The state of Uttar Pradesh which shares three zones- Northern railway, North-Eastern railway and North-Central railway and is one of the most populated state of India, remained low in the list of priority of the projects.
Likewise, the other zones didn’t get much attention from the railway ministers as they keep on playing the card of regional politics. When a person gets inducted into the central cabinet then he/she must look after the condition of its department at the national level. How many visits our Mamta Banerjee has made in recent past to the Southern zones, Western zone or the Central zones? The problem remains the same with every minister. Our politicians are so myopic in vision that they can’t see beyond the boundaries of their state. Today, we need ministers who can really take the needs of entire nation with them. And before adding new trains to gain cheap publicity, let the minister do some work to add on new tracks and finish the dedicated freight corridor project at the earliest.
Rest assured the rail budget 2010 will not bring anything to Assam as it always happens. Assam will remain as one of the mast poorly connected state in India. The vicious circle of not granting industry as rail connectivity is bad on the one hand and not spending money in rail development as there is negligible industry on the other will continue to hound the people of the north east.
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