Bhopal: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has termed the rail budget as disappointing saying that it has not given a fair deal to Madhya Pradesh. Injustice has been done to the people of the state by not including various pending rail projects forwarded by the state government. Due attention has also not been paid to improving rail infrastructure in the state. However, he hailed the announcement for developing two railway stations of Madhya Pradesh as model stations and upgrading another two stations to world class.
The Chief Minister said that an unhealthy practice seems to have been established that when a railway minister is from Bihar, he pays special attention to Bihar and when he or she is from West Bengal they give priority to their state at the cost of other states, forgetting that they belong to entire country. Chouhan said that due to its central location Madhya Pradesh faces very heavy pressure of rail traffic. The budget failed to take it into account. Two new trains have been announced, but it is not sufficient. Two trains have been given the status of super fast trains, which is merely a populist measure.
He pointed out that proposals were sent for increasing the trips of 14 trains, but only one proposal of Bhopal-Lucknow Express has been sanctioned. Besides, proposals for extending the routes of another 14 trains were forwarded, of which only one of Jabalpur-Bhopal-Indore has been cleared. Put of 43 new Garib Rath trains Madhya Pradesh has got only one Gwalior-Bhopal (via Guna) intercity and Bhopal-Lucknow Garib Rath train, though Madhya Pradesh needs more trains. He pointed out that the rail minister has announced to provide ambulance service in long distance trains, but Madhya Pradesh has been ignored in this also.
Chouhan regretted that despite sanction for Kundalpur Jain pilgrimage center, 20 km from Damoh in the previous rail budget, no funds have been made available for the project. The density of rail lines in Madhya Pradesh is less than national average; therefore, the condition of 50 percent sharing by the state government should be abolished. Only a single train, Avantika Express has been plying for last 15 years between Mumbai and Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, which is not sufficient. The demand of launching a new has also not been met. Chouhan said that no budget provision has been made for construction of many railway over bridges. Work has not yet been started for construction of a railway over bridge in Morena city despite provision of Rs two crore for this purpose.