Haryana BJP goes gaga, Cong terms it disappointing

Even as the maiden railway budget of the BJP government brought a little addendum of trains, lines and facilities for Haryana, it still fell short of expectations.

Besides, Delhi-Palwal-Aligarh mainline electric multiple unit (Memu) rail and a daily Bikaner-Rewari passenger, the budget had provision for doubling of Rewari-Bikaner line which aimed at giving a fillip to the frequency of trains. There were Delhi-Chandigarh high speed train, Kanpur-Delhi-Jammu train and Delhi-Amritsar train which would cross through some parts of Haryana.

While the ruling Congress in Haryana dubbed the railway budget as disappointing, impractical and directionless, the BJP hailed it stating that it would benefit all types of rail users as well as railway employees, like never before. The Indian National Lok Dal gave a mixed reaction.

The BJP legislative party leader in Vidhan Sabha and MLA from Ambala Cantt, Anil Vij, hailed the budget stating it would benefit all strata of society and even benefit the railway employees.

The INLD state president Ashok Arora said that the new trains and facilities were laudable though the Centre’s maiden railway budget had failed to fulfill all the expectations of the people of Haryana.

He said that there was a strong demand for a rail line from Peohwa, linking it with Haridwar, which had not been considered in the budget.

Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, on the other hand, described the first railway budget of the present central government as directionless and impractical.

Hooda said that it lacked vision and reflected that it had been conceived with political vendetta in mind as Congress ruled states had been ignored.

Also, the rail fares and freight charges were increased before its presentation in the Parliament to befool the people.

“The railway budget is like an agenda to handover the Indian Railways to private firms,” he said.

Meanwhile, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry also hailed the budget terming it as a positive one. HCCI chairman Vishnu Goyal said that it was a positive budget which had provisions for high speed trains, modernisation of tracks, new trains and connectivity between important cities of Haryana.