‘Govt planning bullet trains when people travel like ‘cattle’ in locals’

PTI
MUMBAI, MAY 19

Former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi today took a swipe at the Centre’s bullet train project, saying it should care about the suburban local commuters first, who are forced to travel like “cattle” in peak hours here. Trivedi pointed out the jampacked and highly overloaded suburban local trains here and said, “Just see how the people are forced to travel like cattle. Even cattle travel better than this.”
Debunking the idea of bullet trains, he said, “First think about these people, and then talk something else. On one side we talk about ‘Chandrayaan’ and on the other side these people are forced to travel like this.”
“First make common man’s travel dignified and then talk about bullet trains. The bitter part of the truth is that the foundation of Indian Railways is shaken,” he added.
Trivedi was in the city as a member of Lok Sabha Petition Committee comprising 15 MPs under the chairmanship of Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
He claimed that the Indian Railways was heading the “Air India way”.
“I don’t want to get into the political system but the very fact is that Railway is bankrupt now and it is going the Air India way,” Trivedi said in reply to a query on what was his assessment over the present government’s efforts to bring structural reforms in Indian Railways.
“Many things have gone very serious with the Railways… it is not going in the direction where it should go,” he told PTI.
Stating that Indian Railways has all the potential to carry forward India on the path of progress, he further said we can learn a lot from China which has brought a paradigm shift in the rail sector.
“China was once lagging behind us by 15 years, but see now what has happened there. It has leaped 100 years ahead,” he said.
The ex-minister also said that Indian Railways has competent and efficient officers who have all the capability to reform it.
Meanwhile, a committee comprising 15 MPs today visited suburban Bhandup and Ghatkopar stations and took stock of the prevailing conditions there following a petition submitted by NGO Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh to the Lok Sabha through Kirit Somaiya.
The members also visited the spot at Ghatkopar station, where a student of SNDT college student Monica More had lost both her hands after falling of while trying to board the train.
Also, they briefly interacted with her.
Few MPs who were part of this visit were Bhagat Sigh Koshyari (chairman of committee), Dinesh Trivedi , Rajan Vichare (MP from Thane) and Dharmendra Yadav.
These MPs held formal discussions with the representatives of the Ministry of Railways and said that necessary action would be taken after due deliberations on all points involved.
“We have gathered necessary information and this visit is really going to be fruitful for the people of Mumbai,” said Bhagat Sigh Koshyari, Chairman of the committee.
Top brass of central railway including General Manager and Divisional Railway Manager of Mumbai Division also accompanied the committee.
Madhu Kotian, petitioner in the case and president of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh said, “This is good to see our MPs acting here following my petition and this time I am very much hopeful that this visit would come out with fruitful results, unlike in the past.”
Kotian lauded the efforts of Somaiya and hoped that under his leadership the commuter woes will come to end.