While the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced reduction in rail fares at the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had a harrowing time controlling various angry party members whose expectations lay 'unfulfilled'.
The BJP termed the Railway Budget 2008 'disappointing' and noted that the announcements made for reduction in fares were a just an 'eyewash'. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta opined that the rail Budget did not live upto the Left parties' expectations
"The Railway Budget presented by Lalu Prasad is disappointing. Members from various states made noise and walked out, which shows that the hopes of all the states turned into disappointment," BJP spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters in New Delhi.
"The Congress members kept sitting in the House in compulsion. They are also very disappointed with the Budget and wanted to raise their voice against it," he said, adding the uproar in Lok Sabha as the Railway Minister presented the Budget was unparalleled.
Calling the reduction in fares an "eyewash", Malhotra claimed that the expenses for the passengers would go up through increase in the charges for food, reservation, cancellation and other amenities.
"People are being cheated. Passenger trains are being re-designated as superfast trains. The coaches would remain the same but the fares would go up," he said.
"This is `jaadu-tona' (magic trick). People cannot see, but they will have to pay more now. Never before has so much burden been put on the people," Malhotra said.
Malhotra said announcements made by Prasad in the previous Budgets are yet to be fulfilled. "He made announcements about `kullars' being used in the trains, about encouragement being given to `khadi' and vegetables and milk being transported in air-conditioned carriers. All such announcements end up as jokes," he said.
He complained that in the last four years, not even one of the unmanned crossings has been converted into a manned crossing. "The condition of railway stations has deteriorated in the last four years. There is no cleanliness, no drinking water. The condition of toilets is bad and there is talk of making our stations world-class," Malhotra said.
He also complained that the Government has done nothing towards resettlement of slums that have come up on railway land. "No steps have been taken for ensuring safety and security of passengers," Malhotra further said.