The Shiromani Akali Dal today strongly flayed the anti-people, anti-poor Rail Budget presented by Congress led UPA Government and said that Congress was out to punish the masses to take a revenge of drubbing received by it in Vidhan Sabha elections by inflicting unprecedented fare hike on them.
In a statement issued here today Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, President Shiromani Akali Dal, said that the Rail |Budget presented by Congress led UPA was showing its real face to the public by raising the rail fare of every category exorbitantly, making rail travel a luxury. Mr. Badal said that Railway Ministry has failed to honour the aspirations of people of Punjab by not introducing Bathinda-Delhi Shatabadi despite repeated pleadings by Punjab Chief Minister. He said that the failure of Railway Ministry to sanction more ROBs for the state of Punjab would impact the infrastructure growth of the state.
Criticizing the congress led UPA government for its failure to increase freight carriage capacity from Punjab, the SAD President said that it was matter of great regret that Punjab, the granary of the country, was suffering most as Rail Ministry failure to transport the procured grain lying in the godowns of Punjab. He said that Punjab had been pleading time and time again to allocate it dedicated freight capacity according to grain capacity of Punjab but Union Rail Budget has miserably failed to address this crucial problem of Punjab. He said that it was surprising that against 65 lakh tones production of grains biyearly, the rail freight capacity of the state was only 6 lakh tonne.
Terming the token opposition of TMC to the Rail Budget, Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal said that this gimmickry cannot befool masses, who were already hard pressed with the unprecedented price hike of essential commodities. He said that instead of token opposition, if they were really concerned they should resign from the cabinet and withdraw support from Congress led UPA Government.
Seeking immediate rollback of rail fare hike, Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Shiromani Akali Dal would not allow Congress led UPA government to fleece common masses due to inefficiency of Railways Ministry.