New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25 in the House, has announced something or the other for every sector. There are many announcements for the employed class, farmers, women, middle class, youth, and farmers. But in her budget speech, Sitharaman did not talk about the railways at all. The finance minister spoke for about one hour and 20 minutes but the railways was completely absent from his budget speech.
The finance minister in his budget speech had mentioned self-reliant India, Amritkal, but the railways was absent from his speech. No announcement has been made in the budget for the railways. The word ‘railways’ was coined only once during his entire budget speech, that too when he was announcing plans for Andhra Pradesh. Neither any new train has been announced by the Railways, nor has there been any discussion on concession in fares nor any announcement has been made to increase the technology of the railway network.
On the lack of mention of railways in the budget, the Congress president said that accidents are happening every day, trains are stopping, the number of coaches is decreasing and passengers are unhappy, but nothing has been said about the railways in the budget.
Although ‘the railways’ is not there in the budget speech, Rs. 1.08 lakh crore has been allocated in the budget for the railways. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the amount will be spent on security.
