Railways needs yearly investment of Rs 3-lakh crore to meet country's aspirations: Govt
New Delhi(PTI): The Railways will need to target revenue of Rs 3.5 lakh crore and an investment of Rs 3-lakh crore every year to meet the country's aspirations, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
During a discussion on the working of the ministry, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attacked opposition members and past governments, alleging they only talked about vision and preparing concept notes, but did not take any action to implement them.
The minister said that to meet the aspirations of the country, its citizens and the future generation over the next 10 years, the Railways will have to target to ferry 1,000 crore passengers every year from about 800 crore currently, and increasing the cargo load from 140 crore tonne to 300 crore tonne.
"If we won't do it then we will never be able to cross-subsidize passenger fare," he said.
Vaishnaw said the cost of passenger fare and services comes to around Rs 1.16 per kilometre but railway charges only 48 paise per kilometre and around Rs 62,000 crore social obligation subsidy is given on passenger fares.
"For this, we will have to increase cargo 2-2.5 times. Not freight charge, (but) volume. We will have to reach a revenue of Rs 3.5-lakh crore and invest Rs 3-lakh crore every year. Then only we will be able to meet the aspirations of this country," he said.
The minister also alleged that past governments lacked the clarity of vision, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a clear decision that the Railways needs to move away from diesel and go for electrification.
"Good that you gave a concept but what work did you do? It's good that you gave a vision document... but will the country work on the concept? You will have to show the work," he said, referring to the freight corridor project.
He said that the concept note for the corridor came in 2004, the foundation station was laid in 2006, but not a kilometre of the project was commissioned under the previous government.
"How many kilometres were commissioned? Zero. Only Zero. This was the condition. Today how many kilometres have been commissioned? 1,010 kilometres," Vaishnaw said.
He said that a "policy paralysis" situation existed in the entire country under the previous regime and the Railway was affected as well.
"I don't want to snatch your credit. You have a lot of things to your credit. 2G, coal, commonwealth. We don't want any of your credit. These statistics are before you," Vaishnaw said.
Agitated by Vaishnaw's remarks, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge interrupted his speech briefly.
He said an initiative was taken under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but it was not sufficient to meet the aspirations of the people of the northeast.
The minister said investment in the northeast during 2009-2014 was only Rs 2,122 crore which was increased almost two times by the prime minister to Rs 5,531 crore and it has not stopped there.
Vaishnaw said Gandhinagar and Rani Kamalapati railway stations have been developed as world-class railway stations and lessons are being learnt from them to make railway stations in all cities a central place for not just passengers but other people in the city by equipping them with good restaurants and other amenities.
The minister alleged that the opposition raises several questions without looking into their own past.
He said the government is bringing the E5 series of bullet trains which are being run at present in Japan.
"Entire civil work, track work are being done by Indian engineers, Indian companies. This is a way to absorb technology. Geo-technical investigation has been done at every 100 kilometres of the entire soil stretch.
"Due to the progress, pillars of around 8 kilometres are getting cast. Pillars for 29 kilometres have been cast. Foundation of close to 80 kilometres have been cast," Vaishnaw said.
He said the target is to make over 5,000 LHB coaches this year which will replace five to six trains every month.
About recruitment in railways, Vaishnaw said there were 2,42,709 appointments during 2009-2014 and after that 3,44,646 appointments have been done and recruitment is on for 1,40,713 positions.
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Raj Thackeray questions need for NEET, demands Pradhan’s resignation
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Thursday questioned the need for NEET-UG and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek the resignation of Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan.
Thackeray's demand comes amid massive protests over the cancellation of the examination following allegations of paper leak.
The MNS chief said the government is so “obsessed” with bringing everything under a centralised authority that it appears to make no difference if the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into “disarray”.
In a post on X, Thackeray said that for several years now, a single individual (Pradhan) has remained entrenched in the position of Union education minister. Despite numerous “irregularities” and “scandals” within the NEET framework during his tenure, this “gentleman” continues to occupy the post, he said.
“One wonders: has he been rewarded with this continued tenure because he is so zealously pursuing the agenda of imposing the Hindi language across the entire nation? I earnestly appeal to the Prime Minister: please demand the immediate resignation of this Minister of yours, who has repeatedly toyed with the lives and future of 22 lakh students,” Thackeray said.
The National Testing Agency on Tuesday cancelled the NEET (UG) 2026 exam held on May 3 amid allegations of paper leak, with the government asking the CBI to carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the “irregularities”. The examination for students seeking admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges will now be held afresh on dates to be notified separately.
Thackeray said the Centre continues its tradition of creating “chaos” in every matter and holding the public to ransom. The “NEET paper leak” has proved this once again, he said.
Thackeray sought to know what the Centre did when it found out the alleged malpractice. It merely cancelled the examination and ordered a CBI inquiry, he said.
In 2024, a CBI inquiry was ordered in a similar case, but nothing substantial was achieved through it, he said.
The government projects an air of having fulfilled its duty in all of this. But what about the lives of 22 lakh students and their families, who have been left hanging in the balance, he asked.
Thackeray said fundamentally, there was no need to “impose” NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test)-UG back in 2016.
“However, this government’s obsession with bringing everything under a single, centralised authority is so intense that, to them, it seems to make no difference if the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into disarray,” he said.
The MNS chief also asked ministers within the Maharashtra government to show some “spine” and join voices with those of the southern states and oppose this system.
Thackeray said leaders from the southern states have voiced their opposition in much the same way as he. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay has also demanded the cancellation of NEET. The reason for this is that the five southern states, combined with Maharashtra, collectively possess over 350 medical colleges, whereas the large states in the north have only 180 medical colleges, he said.
Consequently, this persistent push that began in 2016 is essentially an attempt to facilitate the “entry of students from the north into medical colleges in the south”, alleged Thackeray. To ensure this, the largest network of coaching classes has been established in the northern states, he claimed.
