Date:12/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/12/stories/2008021260051000.htm

National

Lalu: it will be yet another aam aadmi rail budget

Special Correspondent

Lalu Prasad

BANGALORE: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Monday promised yet another aam aadmi budget on February 26.

The railway budget would keep in mind the interests of students, farmers, workers and the poor, he said inaugurating the re-modified Yeshwanthpur station and launching the extended service of the Ajmer-Bangalore Express up to Mysore at a function here.

The Railways’ thrust would be on improving “comfort levels” in the general compartment. Wooden planks would be replaced with two-inch cushion seats. Also, the number of general compartments would be increased.

The common man’s air-conditioned train ‘Garib Rath’ was a runaway success, the Railway Minister said.

During the last four years, the Railways had remitted Rs. 48,000 crore to the government account, wiping out all deficit forecast by experts, he said.

Later talking to journalists, Mr. Prasad said the Railways were not a regional unit but a pan-India organisation and therefore there was no regional and lingual reservation in appointments.

Asked about the anti-north Indian agitation in Mumbai, Mr. Prasad said whoever was spreading regionalism was destroying the democratic values and social fabric of the country.

Mr. Prasad announced a Rs. 10-lakh award for the Yeshwanthpur station for being a model.