Comments
The Railway Budget sprang no surprise and only followed the path of populism, said Mr T.T. Srinivasa Raghavan, President, Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The commercial considerations for the Railways to emerge as a viable and healthy infrastructure catalysing India's growth have not been given due attention The excessive lean towards the running of passenger trains has once again failed to achieve the long-required balance between freight and passenger movement, he said in a statement.
The chamber feels that the Railway Minister has missed a ‘great' opportunity to announce strong economic initiatives and pragmatic approach to position the Railways as a major engine of economic growth, as the movement of freight across India continues the benign neglect of yesteryears, he said.
Some of populist announcement made by the Minister in the 2010-11 Budget remains to be approved by the Planning Commission is yet to be implemented. Hence, it is feared that the current announcement may also be struck in a similar limbo.
The new railway line target set even in the previous years has not been achieved and laying of 1500 km by 2020 will elude at the current budgetary allocation and implementation.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.