This is suburban commuters' advice to the Railway Minister to sensitise her to their demands, which they feel have been completely ignored in the Budget
This is suburban commuters' advice to the Railway Minister to sensitise her to their demands, which they feel have been completely ignored in the Budget
IT seems the only people happy with Mamata Di's railway budget are the people in her home state.
Mumbaikars, for one, have slammed it and feel they have been shortchanged once again despite laying out a cohesive list of long-pending demands, some of which were featured in MiD DAY yesterday ('Open letter to didi').
Echoing voices from all over the country that they don't mind paying a little extra as long as good services are provided, Mumbaikars say the no-hike budget has failed to meet their expectations.
Although the demands of converting 9-rake trains to 12-rake trains and of launching additional services were met, commuters' key complaints are that there is no mention of increasing the number of coaches for ladies or of ensuring that the locals run on time.
"The budget is a rubbish one. Why can't she understand the problems female commuters are facing in Mumbai? The number of coaches reserved for us has remained stagnant for decades. Why can't they be increased?" asked a fuming Janaki Kumar, marketing head at an Andheri-based firm.
Stating that she and some other female passengers have decided to launch an agitation since their demand was not met, Kumar added, "The railway minister should get out of the air-conditioned car she uses to commute in West Bengal and travel in Mumbai's local trains during rush hour. Only then will she realise what we have to go through every day."
Commenting on the inclusion of things like air-conditioned double-decker trains and more Adarsh stations, Subhash Gupta, member of National Railway Users Consultative Council, said, "Mumbai has never benefitted from the rail budget and this one is no different.
Not hiking the fare or freight charges just isn't enough, Mumbaikars are ready to pay more for better services. It is a budget which is tall on promises, but will be very difficult to implement."u00a0
Western Railway officials were also taken by surprise that Banerjee did not mention anything about 15-car rakes. "15-car rakes are our pride at the moment and she didn't even mention them.
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The railway minister has hardly travelled to the city and so she doesn't really know about Mumbaikars' demands or the problems they face," said a senior official, on condition of anonymity.
Ajay Bhandari, who travels from Andheri to Churchgate every day, said, "The budget has not really addressed Mumbaikars' problems.
No fare hikes have been standard in the last eight budgets and it remains to be seen whether even the few good things planned for this city will be implemented.
More trains have been announced on paper and we will have to wait and watch whether they are actually pressed into service."
Only 2 of our 5 Demands met
Yesterday, on our front page we had placed 5 demands that Mumbaikars had from Mamata's rail budget. Only two have been met.
More trains, which are punctual
Lower fares
Additional ladies coaches and first class compartments
9-rake trains should be converted to 12-coach
Clean compartments and platforms
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