Youth Congress protests against Railway Budget

Youth Congress workers staged a protest against the 2014-15 railway budget proposals here on Wednesday, criticizing the government for the hike in rail fares.

A protester, DA Pramodhsankar, said that the new railway budget is not in favour of the common man.

“The new railway budget is not for the common man. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have thought of the entire country. Modi Union Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda didn’t bring the ‘good days’ with this budget,” said Pramodshankar.

He also criticised the government over plans for introducing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the railways, saying that when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was trying hard for the past ten years to bring FDI, the BJP had objected it, and now, was endorsing it as a necessity.

Yesterday, Gowda had presented his maiden Railway Budget for fiscal year 2014-15 where he introduced a slew of reform measures to modernise Indian Railways.

In his maiden rail budget, Gowda had said that his ministry would seek cabinet approval for allowing FDI in railways, but passenger services would be excluded. However, he did not give details on how he will attract investors.

ANI