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The railway budget has thoroughly disappointed Kerala, which has not sent a single BJP MP to the Lok Sabha. Politicians, civic leaders and social media commentators feel the BJP Government is taking it out on Kerala by ‘neglecting’ the State for letting the BJP down in the elections.
Congress and Left MPs from Kerala protested in the Lok Sabha against the ‘total neglect’ of the State in the railway budget allocations.
While the Railway Minister announced 27 new express trains, six premium trains, six air-conditioned trains and five Jan Sadharan trains, none has been allotted to Kerala.
Tamil Nadu, which already has a well-developed railway network, has got four new trains while the densely populated Kerala was let down, the comments on the social media pointed out. A passenger train from Baindoor in Karnataka to Kasaragod on the Karnataka border is the only new train that will benefit Kerala – for visiting the Mookambika temple in Karnataka.
No coach factoryKerala had pinned hopes on the proposed coach factory at Kanchikode in Palakkad district and an exclusive railway zone in Kerala. Sadananda Gowda’s budget kept total silence on the coach factory, which has been hanging fire for several years. A separate railway zone for Kerala has been a long-pending demand of Kerala.
State Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed, expressing deep displeasure over the neglect of Kerala, said Kerala never had such a massive disappointment from a railway budget. He told reporters that the State had well in advance presented its demands such as the coach factory and a new rail line from Nilambur to Nanjangode.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President VM Sudheeran also criticised the budget. Passengers associations –which had raised several demands for better passenger amenities, more trains, speeding up of trains and new lines – are also highly critical of the budget.
Female passengers and passengers’ organisations have widely welcomed the proposal to have CRPF security on women’s compartments and for recruitment of 4,000 female constables for the purpose.
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