Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today assailed the Union Railway Budget- 2012-13 presented by Railway Minister Mr. Dinesh Trivedi as directionless, hopeless and anti-common man contrary to the stand of UPA government to safeguard the interest of the common man (Aam Admi). He said: “The anti- Punjab stance of Congress has been once again come to the fore as it had deliberately ignored the interests of the border state much to the dismay of the people of Punjab”.
In a statement, Mr. Badal immediately after assuming the charge of Chief Minister said that the Budget presented by the Railway Minister lacked both the direction and the vision which reflected that the Congress led UPA government was totally apathetic towards providing better facilities to the citizens of the country. He said the proposed hike in the railway fare of all types of trains varying from Passenger to Rajdhani etc. in the garb to upgrade the railway infrastructure for ensuring safety and providing security to the passenger along with providing better facilities was highly deplorable. Accusing the UPA government for meting out a step motherly treatment to Punjab, Mr. Badal said that the Railway budget of today was a testimony of complete insensitivity of the Congress led Union government towards the economic needs of the Border State. He said that today’s budget has once again dashed the hopes of industry and Agriculture sectors in the State adding that in the past 66 years no Congress Government has allotted ‘a km’ of additional Railway line to Punjab. Mr. Badal said that the budget had also ignored the numerous requests made by the state government at different forums for the extension of the already sanctioned Kolkota-Ludhiana Eastern dedicated Rail freight corridor to Amritsar. Likewise, he said that the budget had also not taken care of the state's pending demand to sanction another Western freight dedicated Rail Corridor Mumbai – Delhi to Amritsar via Ludhiana for providing fillip to the industrial sector in general and the agro based in particular.
Making a scathing attack on the Union government, Mr. Badal said that in fact the UPA government was building castles in the air as most of its announcements pertaining to the previous railway budget remain unfulfilled, he said that it was irony of the fate that instead of optimally utilizing the vast resources of the ministry for providing better amenities to the passengers, the government has opted for hike in the passenger fare which would put extra burden on the common man who is already reeling due to the anti-people policies of the Congress government. The Chief Minister said that the budget has further expose the anti people face of the Union government.