The central government on Wednesday made it clear that it is not going to privatize the railways. The government has said that all the talk about privatization of railways is fictional. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav gave this information on Wednesday. He said that railways as a strategic sector in the eyes of the government has social responsibility which is being fulfilled with a focus on commercial viability.
Responding to a discussion on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Railways for the year 2022-23, the Railway Minister said that privatization of railways cannot happen as the tracks belong to the railways, the locomotives belong to the railways, the stations and the power lines belong to the railways. . Apart from this, the coaches and the signaling system are also of the Railways. Vaishnav said his predecessor Piyush Goyal had also clarified earlier that the railways structure is complex and will not be privatized. He also clarified that even goods trains are not being privatized.
The Railway Minister said, ‘Railways as a ‘strategic sector’ in the eyes of the government has a social responsibility. This has been followed so far and will continue to do so. This is being accomplished with a focus on commercial viability. It is worth mentioning that during the discussion on this subject, members of Congress and some other opposition parties accused the government of taking steps towards ‘privatisation of railways’ and focusing only on making profits and said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that Talking about railway modernization is just propaganda.
The Railway Minister said that if we pay attention to the social responsibility of the Railways, then it will be clear that we are giving subsidy of 60 thousand crores. Vaishnav said that Prime Minister pic.twitter.com/MTUrPcR1VY
— ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2021
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s life has been associated with rail, he understands rail very well. He said that to know at which point the railways is today, we have to go back. He said that before Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the policy paralysis had its effect on the Railways as well.
The Railway Minister said that before the Modi government came to power, there was lack of investment in the railways and lack of vision, as well as technology was not changing, there was departmental competition among the employees and due to this, the railways were constantly losing market share. Had been. Referring to the steps taken by the government, the Railway Minister said, “After the formation of our government, the first attention was given to cleanliness. Thereafter powers were given to the officers at the level of the ground offices. Today most of the tenders are decided by the field officers, they do not come to the Railway Board.