Unusually combative Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday lashed out at the previous Congress government, accusing the Opposition of amplifying minor incidents on the railway network through its “army of social media trolls”, in both cases. Creating fear among millions of passengers.
Replying to the debate on the demand for railway funding, Vaishnaw asserted that railways are the preferred mode of transport for the common man and the government has initiated plans to produce 2,500 additional regular coaches in the next few months to address the issue of crowded trains.
He listed out a series of steps such as introducing Amrit Bharat trains with better facilities in general and sleeper coaches, setting up a recruitment calendar to fill vacancies in the railways and catering to the aspirational middle class with products like Vande Bharat class trains.
In a rare display of aggression, Vishno lashed out at the previous Congress government for delaying the implementation of an automatic train protection system, neglecting the safety aspect of the vast network and mocking Rahul Gandhi for making reels out of locomotive pilots.
“Hum reel banane wale log nahi, mehnat karne wale log hai (We are not the ones who make the reels, but the ones who are dedicated),” Vaishnaw said, highlighting his team's dedication and not just the show.
The opposition booed him, calling him a “reel minister” and calling for his resignation after a series of rail accidents over the past few months.
“Those who are shouting here must be asked why in their 58 years in power they could not install automatic train protection (ATP) even for 1 km. Today they dare to ask the question,” Vish Nuo said.
Later, the opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha to protest against the minister's remarks.
Vishno listed the government's initiatives to improve safety on the rail network, including eliminating unmanned level crossings, implementing electronic interlocking at railway stations to better manage train movements and introducing Kavach, an automatic train protection system.
The minister said that the expenditure on security-related issues in 2023-24 is Rs 98,414 crore, for which Rs 1,08,795 crore has been allocated in this budget.
“When Mamata Banerjee was Railway Minister, she used to bring down the number of accidents from 0.24 to 0.19, these people used to applaud in the House and today, when the number of accidents has come down from 0.19 to 0.03, They blame these people again,” Vaishnaw said.
On the local pilot regulations highlighted by Gandhi, he said the average working and rest hours for local pilots were rules framed in 2005 and revised in 2016 to provide more facilities.
He said significant improvements had been made to locomotive pilots, including air conditioning for all 558 operating rooms and more than 7,000 engine rooms, in contrast to perceived shortcomings under the previous government.
Giving an update on the automatic train protection system, Vaishnaw said Kavach 4.0 received certification from the Research Design and Standards Organization on July 17 this year and the three manufacturers of the system have expanded production capabilities.
However, the minister did not give any timetable for the implementation of Kavach across the entire rail network, but mentioned that smaller countries with much smaller rail networks have taken more than 20 years to implement automatic train protection systems.
He said three manufacturers of Kavach systems have expanded their production facilities and two new manufacturers are about to join.
Vaishnaw said more than 8,000 engineers and technicians have been trained and six universities have included Kavach in their syllabuses.
“Now, we are in a situation where we can implement Kavach on a large scale. The tender to implement Kavach across 9,000 kilometers is on. In the next few months, we will start implementing Kavach 4.0 on 10,000 coaches.
The Lok Sabha approved the railway grant demand of Rs 789 crore.
Talking about concerns over allocations to Kerala, the minister said that during the UPA government, the state received an average of Rs 372 crore every year, of which Rs 3,011 crore.
Tamil Nadu's allocation increased from an average of Rs 6,362 crore to Rs 6,362 crore. 879 crore per annum during UPA, Vaishnaw said.
The minister asked both countries to expedite land acquisition to expedite the implementation of the railway plan.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)
