Discussion on the Supplementary Demands for Grants 2004-2005. (Not concluded).
Date: 20-12-2004
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Sir, today, we sit in this august House to discuss the Supplementary Budget of 2004-05. We have an able and a capable Finance Minister in this country today. He has to his credit many firsts.
Earlier, when he was the Finance Minister, he had been successful in achieving some underlying, some noble things which everybody expected he would repeat in this term also. We are still expecting and waiting for him to work some wonders which in the last 6 or 7 months, as of now, we do not seem to have benefited from his bright ideas and his experience.
Sir, I would like to concentrate first on my State Orissa which has been consistently considered to be a poor State. But, as you all know, all the States of the East, namely, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam are not poor States. Intrinsically, these are very rich States, if you take into consideration their natural resources, and the amount of fresh water that flows through these States. If you take the human resource aspect also into consideration, we will all be happy to note that these States are very developed States. But, in the past, a lot of wrong was done to the Eastern part of the country, especially to States like Orissa. We are all aware about something called ‘freight equalisation’. As far as freight equalisation is concerned, as you know, at the production head, whether it was coal or steel or iron ore or aluminium or manganese or whatever it may be, when they were produced or mined in Orissa or in Bihar and shipped to Mumbai or Ludhiana or Salem, the cost was the same as at the production head, thereby implying that the States in the Eastern part of this country like Orissa always subsidised in this country and it is these States which have built up this nation brick by brick. But, in return, today, what we see is that successive Union Governments, – except a small portion that the NDA ruled – federal Governments of India have always neglected the Eastern part of this country. Today, even the present Government has not fared better.
A State like Orissa does not only need money. As far as money is concerned, of course, we should get what we deserve. For example, they have not reviewed coal royalty, they have not tried to concentrate on our irrigation projects. They have not financed or funded sufficiently our irrigation projects, our infrastructure projects, thereby not only have the successive Central Governments taken away the wealth of States like Orissa, they have also, on the other hand, tried to push up and keep us as if we were waiting somewhere at the back burner, and we do not have a right to be an active part of this nation.
Sir, infrastructure development in the Eastern parts of India has been consistently dwindling in terms of funding in all successive Plans. It is evident even in the last Budget, it is evident throughout this Plan, and we are yet to see what the next Plan bodes us.
Except Assam and some parts of the North-East, Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal and Orissa, as I said earlier, all have much more water resources. They are rich in minerals and their human resources are yet to be exploited. I am repeating this with an intention that these aspects need to be underlined so that whichever Party comes to power at the Centre has to keep this in mind that unless you reach an even keel in this nation, no development is genuine or no development is sustainable.
For instance, let us look at the bank deposits in a State like Orissa. The State Bank of India alone had collected around Rs. 4,000 crore in the year 2002-03 as deposits. The Government deposits, individual deposits and all kinds of deposits put together come to Rs. 4,000 crore, out of which, the re-investment in the State was a meagre 16 per cent. It just shows that the banks in States like Orissa do not wish to re-finance agricultural projects, and they do not want to finance small-scale industries or medium-scale industries. The money collected is collected in Orissa or Bihar or Bengal but it is invested somewhere else, thereby making our people even poorer. So, it is time that we take a thorough look at where we are driving this country. We are in a State where backwardness and under-development have resulted in extreme naxalism. Sir, as you are aware, naxalism or activities connected with naxalites prosper when there is utter and abject poverty. When people are poor, when the villages are poor, and when the common man is looking for his daily meal, he is frustrated, he is hungry, he is willing to take up arms against anything that, he thinks, is slightly connected with establishment. So, when we are thinking of fighting naxalism with guns and with police, we are blissfully unaware that the problem does not lie with the bullets or the guns of the naxalites. The problem lies with poverty, no education or low education, and abject deprivation. If we meet these points, then we need not fight naxalites only with bullets, we could clean out their base and we could create a situation where it would be difficult for such elements to thrive.
Sir, I have a suggestion. Suppose, the federal Government thinks that it would link say, Ranchi with Vijayawada with a four-lane national highway, that would touch many religious places, it would touch mineral resource bases, and it would go through the heartland of naxalism. When they are planning for a red corridor, if the federal Government, the Union Government of India plans for a proper national highway, then we will be able to beat them at their own game.
We will take the benefits to the society. With your so-called liberalism, your so-called open economy for the poorest of the poor in Eastern India, and with the road that would come, development, education and work would infuse wealth into those areas, but unfortunately what I find is that in successive Budgets and successive Plans, we preferred to remain blissfully unaware. We are not trying to meet certain basic demands of this country for which we are spending our energies, our resources in such a manner that they do not give us the fruits that the people are expecting. That is why, when most of us go to elections, when you go back to your constituency, people are constantly dissatisfied. They are asking all of us what the Government is doing, and our answer is that the Government is incapable, it is inept. So, it is like butter on bread. Everyone likes the thick coating of butter on his slice of bread. Here, the Indian Budget has successfully squandered away his spending. It is thinly spread out in all spheres.
We notice smaller countries like Thailand and Oman which have concentrated in two years’ period or three years’ period on particular projects, say, health, education and infrastructure. Infrastructure means, roads and ports. By doing it like that, what they have attained is a supremacy in those spheres where they have concentrated.
MR. CHAIRMAN : Please conclude.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I have nearly concluded. Some speakers before me have mentioned this. I would like to reiterate and pinpoint here that a project like the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana, like four-laning and six-laning of the National Highways was not a political party’s agenda. It was not something that the former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee could have put in his pocket and taken it home. It was a wealth that was being built for the nation. He had the vision. But if somebody has a vision and the Government changes, let us not destroy a vision. Let us concentrate on the good things, no matter which Party started it, which political motive was behind it. A good thing is always good.
As we have seen, in this Budget these projects have been sidelined, especially the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. In my constituency, Dhenkanal of Orissa, I have seen in deep interior villages concrete roads that could be comparable to the concrete roads of Bombay or even some smaller roads of the USA. They are of that quality, but the project has come to a complete standstill. There is no work being carried out now.
In conclusion, I would request the Government to please widen your vision, think beyond petty political boundaries and give a break to this nation.
Discussion regarding foreign policy of the Government.
Date: 07-12-2004
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Thank you, Sir. There were lots of ideas, brilliant speeches. The House is honoured and we all feel enlightened because all the hon. Members of this House have sincerely tried to put forward their ideas on a very tricky subject and that is the foreign policy of India. I will speak less because I believe in action more than words. But since words are all that matter in this House, let us be brief.
Do we honestly have a foreign policy? That is the first and foremost question that arises in my mind. Is it that today India is in a diplomatic drift? We know not where we are heading, and what we want. Yes, we cry like babies – ‘please give us a seat in the U.N. Security Council, please also give us a veto power’. We gang up with two or three other countries like Brazil, Japan and Germany, of course. But then the ‘father’ of Germany sits in Washington DC and he says : ‘Look baby, what are you doing with these darkies? Move away’. So, Germany goes away from the playground and the poor Indian diplomatic corp is completely unaware of what is happening.
Why should we be in such a state? It is primarily because – I would say what the hon. Member from Rajasthan suggested a little earlier and he said very correctly – probably, during Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s time we had some sort of a goal to attain in our foreign policy where we ganged up with Gamal Abdul Nasser or with Tito or with the few other countries who thought – because they could not fit in absolutely with the Americans or could not sit on the laps of the Soviets – that maybe if we come together, we could forge an alliance that would let us survive in this world which was going through that terrible Cold War period.
But after that, if we all brush up our history, during Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s time, our heights of diplomacy were shown when the then Foreign Minister, Mr. Dinesh Singh went to Rabat where all the Muslim Heads of nations were getting together and he was humiliated because he was not allowed to address the Heads of States. Not only that, he was not even allowed entry. In the late Sixties the Indian External Affairs Minister was not allowed entry into the conference hall where all the Heads of States of Muslim nations were meeting in Rabat. It was the worst, and it was the beginning of the decay or the beginning of the rot of the Indian foreign policy.
There have been bright moments also. For instance, I remember, that during Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Government, there was a political will, and there was a political initiative, which came into play in the diplomatic arena. Perhaps, in some cases it worked, and in some others it did not work, but there was, definitely, a political will. We wanted to be friendly with Pakistan. We extended our hand, but they did not accept it. They slapped us back. It is okay, but internationally, we had a claim that we are making an effort, and we are trying to get close to them.
Shri Vajpayee also made a gesture by himself going to Pakistan, and conveyed that we are not only talking, but we intend to put into action what we are preaching. In a way, you can say that, he even risked his life trying what he believed in. Internationally, India gained at that moment of time because if you see history, especially the Musharraf era, Pakistan has successfully been outsmarting us each and every time.
General Pervez Musharraf has grown up in Delhi, and probably, he knows the Indian psyche. Now, he is in a position to decide the fate of his country, and he has completely made a fool of all of us. I am saying this because he is taking the initiative.
18.12 hrs. [Shri Varkala Radhakrishnan in the Chair]
Today, we are calling the world a global village. If there is a political destabilisation or a civil war in the Ivory Coast, then the European community goes without chocolates or coffee or the prices go up. I have just cited an example to show how small the world is getting. In this kind of a world, Musharraf is always five steps ahead of India as far as diplomacy is concerned, as we are unable to predict him. He might be talking absurd things, which I personally do not think are always absurd, but just like the issue of the UN Security Council seat where we are crying : “Give it to us.” Similarly, with Pakistan also we are always saying ‘no’. For everything, we are saying ‘no’. We do not want a third country mediation. It is okay. We are accepting Kashmir as a trouble spot, and he is claiming that it is a trouble spot, and we are accepting it. We are saying that we will talk to you alone.
If we had not accepted Kashmir as a trouble spot, then we could have said that : “There is no trouble. Kashmir is a part of India, and we have no quarrel with you on it. You go your way, and we go ours.” But we were not able to say it. We did not have the foresight to say it, and now that we have accepted it, the problem is that our dear bureaucrats — sitting in the External Affairs Ministry — are unable to give some solutions, which India could air to the international community, and India could say that : “Look we have this proposal. Do you want to speak on this, and do you want to mediate on this?” ‘No’, we do not have any ideas. We are bereft of ideas. We have no solutions to offer, and that gentleman — who holds the power of being the President, and is the army head — is brilliant enough to badger us, and to corner us every single time. He is coming up with weird ideas, and he is getting us nailed.
We have nothing to say. What do we have? We have no opinions about Afghanistan, we have no opinion about Iraq, and we never had any opinion about Bosnia. Our business community decides what should be the exchange rate between the ‘Euro’ and the Indian ‘Rupee’. If I had business with Europe today, I would like that in relation to the Indian ‘Rupee’, let the ‘Euro’ be jacked up. When I get my money, I get a bigger share. That means, economically also, we are at a complete loss to decide where we want to position ourselves. In today’s world, whether it is politics or anything else, people are jumping from this side to that side or that side to this side. It is a positional thing — where to position yourself. Similarly, with diplomacy, India is unable to decide where it wants to position itself. Therefore, we were at a complete loss, when America dictated Germany that, ‘Forget India. Do not get into that U.N. Security Council thing; I will take care of your interests. Get away from that.’ Voila! Germany left us high and dry. Like I said earlier…
MR. CHAIRMAN : Your time is up
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I am just getting into my steam.
MR. CHAIRMAN: If you cooperate, we will complete the discussion by seven o’clock. If you go on speaking, we will not be able to complete it by seven o’clock
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, you are ‘Radha’ and ‘Krishna’ rolled into one. The spirit of endurance, the spirit of tolerance is in you. A great man like you must have patience.
SHRI KHARABELA SWAIN (BALASORE): Sir, It is a very important issue. Let him take his time. If the time has to be extended, it can be extended.
MR. CHAIRMAN: We will have to finish it before seven o’clock. I am not prepared for further extensions. We cannot allow this discussion to continue beyond seven o’clock.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : The problem is that there is nobody to think about India, when political parties are going to face elections in my knowledge, except the N.D.A., no other political party had foreign policy issues to pose before the voters because nobody … (Interruptions)
SHRI SANTASRI CHATTERJEE (SERAMPORE): Who told you?
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I read, Sir. The problem is that our brothers from the Left like to carry a baggage that has withered away as a State — the Soviet State has withered away. However, the thought process stays. I am also a progressive man. I am not saying that we should not look at a world which is unipolar, and by God’s grace, there cannot be a unipolar world. So, instead of carrying a former Soviet baggage or a China baggage or an America baggage, is there anybody who wants to carry an Indian baggage? That is not comprehensible or that is, probably, not acceptable to many of our colleagues and comrades. Where does India want to go?
If you see any big nation, if you go to the North American continent, you will see that the Canadians hate the U.S.; you will notice that the Mexicans hate the U.S., but they all want to rush, go past the border guards, and get into the U.S., for jobs. Similarly, if you see our neighbours, whether it is Sri Lanka, whether it is Bangladesh, even Pakistan or Nepal, whether they want to be night-watchmen or whatever, they would all like to come to India, but nobody in our neighbouring countries likes India. What have we done about it? Have we taken any steps to improve a people-to-people relationship between these countries? No, we have not. We are stuck either with America or with some communist country. But what happens to new nations that are being born today? What happens to, say, the C.I.S., countries?
I think, if we ask most people in India, they would not even know what are the names of the CIS countries. These are realities. These are realities that we are trying to avoid. It is primarily because this is a country where we are not able to formulate a politically oriented foreign policy. You look at the US. When there is a change of guard at Washington DC, the Ambassadors to different important countries are changed because they are people who are committed to the policies of that particular President. That does not happen here.
We have bureaucrats who are representing you in Beijing, they are representing you in Washington, and they are representing you in Brussels in the EU. It is the same people. Tomorrow they could be transferred to Chad, or to Turkmenistan, or to Kazakhstan, or to Thailand. So, eventually, there is no think tank in India which is specialising on foreign affairs. We have to formulate policies where we create think tanks which concentrate on certain areas of the world, which come to know the details of these areas, and which will be able to advise the Government on the policies the Government has to take.
The Vajpayee Government had a policy of ‘Look East’. We have to look North and look East. We have to look at the CIS countries because they directly affect our economy. When the CIS countries had excess production of steel, our steel went down the hill. Similarly, to the East lie treasures. Right from history, every European nation has been trying to reach the East. Vajpayeeji had the foresight, had the vision, to see ‘Look East’ as a foreign policy. He also wanted that a road should be built from India to Vietnam, to Ho Chi Minh city into Saigon, which would bring about economic growth not only for India but all along the route, thereby creating an aura of good feeling, an aura of happiness which will eventually boil down to a good feeling towards India.
The Government of India has to get out of the cloak of bureaucracy. The foreign policy has to be discussed in Parliament and only then we can expect that in the years to come, or in the days to come, we will have a nation which will be respected not only by our neighbours but will be respected by every other country in this world.
Combined discussion on the Budget (General) 2004-05, Demands for Grants on Account for Budget (General) and Demands for Excess Grants of Budget (General). (Not concluded).
Date: 20-07-2004
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Hon. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Shri Satpathy, I would be able to give you only two minutes to speak.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY: Sir, I will abide by your instructions. Two of my learned colleagues have already mentioned that the study loans has been a consistent problem with a lot of students. The hon. Finance Minister has also mentioned about the study loans in his Budget speech. The way in which he expressed it made it seem as if it would be easy for the students to get study loan.
I would like to give an example of a student who was trying to get admission in the AMITY institute four days ago in Orissa. AMITY is a private educational institution, and that student needed a loan of Rs. 4 lakh. He went to three banks, namely, the State Bank of India, the UTI Bank, and the Bank of India and they all said that the Budget is a joke. They said that they have no information about it, and said that the Government has not informed them about anything like that. They said that they do not give loans like this. They asked him to bring somebody who was a PAN cardholder or a person who could stand as a guarantee or someone who is able to give them some collateral money. They were not even willing to accept land as guarantee. They told him that if he can get some collateral then only they would be able to give him loan. So, it is a joke.
The next thing is, the hon. Finance Minister claims that a lot of money has been given for horticulture and floriculture. On one side, learned comrade has already spoken about this. There are no FCI godowns in most of the States of this country where you can store what the farmers produce. Cold storages in this country or cold floor is very limited. Wherever there are cold storages, maintenance is very poor. I do not know about Punjab or a few other States, but in most States, there is acute shortage of electricity and the cold storages do not work. Most of the cold storages do not have generators which can keep them going. So, what happens is where you have perishable products like flowers and vegetables being produced with intense investment in them, if you cannot store them, it has no meaning. So, this is a lopsided Budget. I think, this Budget will only hamper the growth of this country.
As you know, four per cent tax has been increased on steel. That will have a negative impact on growth.
The last point I would like to say is, by bring up the base limit of personal income-tax to one lakh, supposedly, the Government is going to incur a big loss. As of now, the Government has not made paying income-tax an enjoyable experience for any Indian citizen. A PAN card holder is a non-entity in this country. He gets no benefit from the PAN card. It does not work as an identity card. He gets no priorities in simple things like train reservations, air reservations, electricity or buying land or anything. The PAN card is a useless piece of plastic which has no value in this country.
My humble submission to the Government, through you, Sir, would be if the Government can conceive of a project by which the PAN card becomes a relevant document and an identity, a thing of pride for the holder, then people would volunteer to pay income-tax. People would come up and say, ‘I would like to have a PAN card. I am willing to pay the Government income-tax even if I am below one lakh as an earning person. Please give me the PAN card because I will get so many benefits.’ It should entail, compulsorily, mandatorily, a minimum guarantee of insurance, say of Rs. 50,000 or Rs. 1,00,000. He or she should have certain benefits attached to it.
Finally, to sum up my speech — there are a few other points, I will not mention it — what I would like to say is that there has been no imagination, no drive, no interest put into this Budget. It is a Budget which is lifeless, which is aimless and it is not going to take the country to any greater heights of economic independence.
Shortage of drinking water due to scanty rainfall in Orissa.
Date: 16-07-2004
TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Sir, thank you for calling me. Ahead of you sits the Left. On your left is the extreme left. But there is one slice of the pizza which is in between, which always gets ignored. I thank you very much again because you have been kind enough to call me though I sit amongst this ignored slice of Pizza.
MR. SPEAKER: Please come to your point.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Yes, Sir.
I wish to draw the attention of this august House and the Union Government about the scanty rainfall in Orissa during this monsoon. Amongst the 30 districts of Orissa, upto June 25th, the rainfall has been very much below average. In certain districts like Deogarh, Sundergarh, Puri, Jagatsingpur, Khurda, Ganjam and Bargarh, the rainfall has been less than average by 64.5 per cent. In my Constituency that comprises of three districts – Angul, Dhenkenal and Sonepur, the rainfall has been 73 per cent below average.
Sir, this is not only going to affect the irrigation facilities, it is also going to severely affect the drinking water availability. The pressure would be felt next year if the rains do not come properly.
We have 16,175 lift irrigation points in Orissa. Out of that, only 9,400 are working as of now. We have, in our State, pani panchayat or water panchayat; and of these 9,400 points, 6,867 are included in pani panchayat.
I wish to draw the attention of the Union Government that if all the lift irrigation points that are in position now – that is, 16,175 points – are activated and special funds are made available to get them working, this will partially solve the drinking water problem also. Along with this, the Central Government has to make some sort of arrangement whereby surplus water, in the form of water harvesting structures, is stored so that ground water is re-charged.
I would like to draw the attention of the Government, through you, Sir, that this is of prime importance. If this is not taken up immediately, it will affect the drinking water problem of the State during the months of November-December.
General discussion on the Budget (Railways) 2004-2005 and Demands for Grants on account (Railways) – 2004-05
Date: 07-07-2004
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Sir, long time ago, we used to hear a joke which said: ÞVÉ¤É iÉBÉE ®cäMÉÉ ºÉàÉÉäºÉä àÉå +ÉÉãÉÚ, iÉ¤É iÉBÉE ®cäMÉÉ ÉʤÉcÉ® àÉå ãÉÉãÉÚ* Þ +É¤É =½ÉÒºÉÉ BÉEä ãÉÉäMÉ BÉEãÉ ºÉä BÉEc ®cä cé :- Þ àÉÉxªÉ´É® ®äãÉ àÉÆjÉÉÒ VÉÉÒ ãÉÉãÉÚ, {ÉBÉE½ÉA cé =½ÉÒºÉÉ BÉEÉä £ÉÉãÉÚ* Þ {ÉcãÉä àÉÆjÉÉÒ VÉÉÒ BÉEÉä càÉ xÉàɺBÉEÉ® BÉE®iÉä cé* ]ÉÒ´ÉÉÒ SÉèxÉãºÉ BÉEc ®cä cé VÉèxÉä®ºÉ ãÉÉãÉÚ*
So, we are sure that Laluji coming from the eastern part of the country, and the honourable Chairman also coming from the Eastern part of the country, will not do anything that would affect the Eastern part. The States of Orissa, Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh which have been consistently neglected by the Central Government of the Congress Party will not continue to feel so. The time has come when the people of these States should feel comfortable thinking that there is somebody who is looking after their interests. It is said that there are three ways in life. They are the good way, the bad way and the railway. Shri Lalu Prasad has chosen the railway. So, we have nothing to say about it. We can only do nepathya kolahala, that is, sit at the back and clap.
Shri Lalu Prasad has read out his Budget speech in Hindi. But the deletion of two ‘oo’s from his name – I do not know whether the credit should go to vaastu or not – has deleted the woes from the hearts and minds of the people of his constituency and his State. But Orissa has been burdened with more woes. Let the Minister prosper. We will be happy about it. We have no problems. But let him look after Orissa also as part of this country which is not evident in the present Budget which the hon. Minister has presented to this House. He has, in his Budget, given a lot of importance to passenger security. I, as Editor of one of the Oriya newspapers, have written many editorials about this. This issue concerns all of us in this House. Passenger security, till date, has been the least important subject for the Indian Railways.
There is a lot of improvement in today’s modern vehicles. If we see an automobile or an aircraft, you will see there are constant developments. In an automobile, you have what they call air bags. If there is an impact, the driver gets an air bag in front of his face. There are passenger cages. If there is an impact and even if the vehicle is crashed, the passengers are saved because they are inside a cage. Similarly, in aircraft you have seats, linen and chadhars which are fire retardant. So, if there is a fire in an aircraft, quite often you will see the airhostess lifts a pillow or lifts a seat and puts it on the fire and the fire dies out. But unfortunately, the Indian Railways have not consulted any foreign agency or they have not bothered to have an R&D Department which will update the coaches. Today we might have a few more air-conditioned coaches than normal, but then the quality of the coaches is exactly the same that we saw, may be thirty or forty or fifty years ago.
So, if the Minister is genuinely interested in passenger security, he should look into these basic things. It should not be difficult for him. In the Budget it is mentioned that in 2003-04, all accidents, big and small, put together were something like 325 in number. So, 325 mishaps per year average to about one accident per day.
I would like to draw the attention of the Government, through you, Sir, that this is of prime importance. If this is not taken up immediately, it will affect the drinking water problem of the State during the months of November-December.
1707 hrs. (Mr. Deputy-Speaker in the Chair)
In that situation the Railway Ministry, the Railway Board and the authorities can easily do a survey, can easily do a study and find out what can be done to safeguard the passengers. Nothing has been mentioned in the Budget.
So, it seems the Budget is a haphazard one and a lifeless one without the hon. Minister putting his heart into it. It has been prepared by the bureaucrats and he has read it out. So, the idea of passenger security in coaches that do not tolerate impact seems improbable.
We are also happy that the hon. Minister has tried to make the Railways more environment friendly. He has tried to cut out plastics, thermocol and such items. Whenever we come by trains from Orissa to Delhi, on both sides what we see is all dirty, filled with plastic and thermocol. So, it is a good thing. But we have to see what the former Minister, Shrimati Maneka Gandhi mentioned about this. She has a point. She said that when you use the earth from the surface you are damaging the soil. Moreover, the earthern pots are not bio-degradable. That is a debatable point. I am not so knowledgeable about this. That should also be studied. It is a point that should not be neglected.
We all are aware that in the development of the Railways, pensions are a big drain on the resources. In reality, to modernise the Railways and to bring about a change, we have to do something about it, thereby making an impact on the passenger and freight traffic. Something has to be done by which the Railways can unburden their pension weight and thereby improve their performance by investing more money which is saved from this sector into development of tracks, coaches, engines and the general traction system. These are a few points that I wish to suggest to the Minister.
Sir, we are happy – I have mentioned happiness thrice already and this is the fourth time – that in his speech the hon. Minister has specifically mentioned Orissa, Punjab and West Bengal as States which, he feels, have been neglected in the past. It is a good thing that he takes cognisance of this fact and he is concerned about it. We welcome his concern, but I will not defocus. Let me focus on Orissa specifically. If you see Orissa, it is a mineral-rich State and surprisingly, – it is a fact which can be verified by anybody – the freight originating from Orissa gives the Indian Railways an annual income of Rs. 3,500 crore. This figure has been consistently growing for the past seven years. During the year 2003-04, it was Rs. 3,500 crore. It is not a small sum. No other State only in the sector of freight traffic originating from it gives the Indian Railways Rs. 3,500 crore as far as my knowledge goes.
So, Orissa’s contribution to the Railway kitty is massive. But in comparison, when you see the investment in Orissa, it is really pitiable that we are badly neglected. For example, let us take the density of railway route length per thousand square kilometres. In the State of West Bengal, it works out to 43.10 km. per thousand square kilometres. In the State of Bihar, it is 30.40 km. The all India figure is 19.11 km. The State of Punjab is below the all India figure and Orissa is below Punjab. In Orissa it is only 15.03 km. So, your density of railway route length per thousand square kilometres is so low that you are not able to reach people.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Please conclude soon.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, I am representing BJD. You are representing a great party which fights for the country. You cannot cut me short. Please give me more time.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: We have got one more Member to speak from your party.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, I represent so many Members. I am the only speaker from my party and I am speaking for the entire State of Orissa.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: All right. You may continue.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, thank you for your kindness. I am grateful.
The NDA Government did start some very outstanding projects in Orissa, but the support that was to come would have taken a little more time which the NDA Government did not get. But prior to the NDA Government, if you see consistently, Orissa, for a very prolonged time, has had to face utter neglect and discrimination by consecutive Central Governments specifically in the field of railways and this has damaged us so much that till date we are not able to raise our head and equate ourselves with the rest of the country.
Sir, we were offered the East Coast Railway. Earlier, we had the South Eastern Railway which was headquartered at Kolkata and it used to look after Orissa and areas right from Kolkata to Visakhapatnam. Then the East Coast Railway was formed and it was headquartered at Bhubaneswar. But the East Coast Railway has not received any support from the Union Government for the past so many years due to which the development has not been up to the mark. This year, we have got Rs. 8 crore, but this amount is pittance when you are trying to set up an independent railway zonal system. So, I would request the hon. Minister to specifically look into the East Coast Railway and build it up so that Bhubaneswar also becomes an economically independent railway headquarter which can support the Indian Railways on a larger scale.
Let me come down to a few specific trains, which need much attention. There is an 82-kms. long Haridaspur-Paradip line which was sanctioned in 1996-97. Paradip is an economic centre. It is a port and development in Paradip will not be limited only to Paradip town but it will affect the complete hinterland which will cover most of the coastal districts of Orissa right up to the central part of Orissa, which I represent – my constituency Dhenkenal – which is banked in the middle of Orissa. This line was sanctioned in 1996-97. It has only received a few lakhs of rupees each year, by which the line has not developed.
Similarly, we have a train which is called the Inter-City Train, which is from Sambalpur to Bhubaneswar. The hon. Minister has extended it up to Puri. The capital of the State is Bhubaneswar. Sambalpur is an important city of Western Orissa. So, the connection between the two cities is the prime target of an Inter-city Express and extending it up to Puri is a technically very wrong thing, which I vehemently oppose and I hope the hon. Minister would reconsider it. Khurda-Bolangir was supposed to be a new line and we expected, at least, Rs.100 crore to be sanctioned this year to be spent there. I would also like to bring to the notice of the hon. Minister that money in the past has been given to the Railways in Orissa for development, but what is happening. Suppose a project gets Rs.15 crore, they only spend Rs.5 crore or Rs.6 crore and at the end of the year Rs.9 crore to Rs.10 crore are reverted back to the Central kitty. Again, the next year another Rs.10 crore is given, which again decreases, and thereby no development is taking place.
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SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, I will quickly read it out because you are not giving me time. The extension of Sambalpur- Bhubaneswar Inter-city Express should not be done up to Puri. It should stop at Bhubaneswar. There is a need to connect Puri to Panaji, which could be named Vaishali Express. It would attract tourists from Goa to Orissa. We need a train from Puri to Jaipur in Rajasthan via Sambalpur, which would help traffic from North India. A major part of Southern Orissa, namely the districts of Ganjam, Gajapathy, Rayagada, Koraput, Nowrangpur, Malkangiri, Boudh and Kondaman, and Srikakulum district of Andhra Pradesh do not have a straight train connection to Delhi. There are five Members representing these areas. I would request the hon. Minister of Railways to have a train which should emanate from Behrampur to New Delhi.
East Coast Railway has sent in a suggestion to start Hirakud Express from Behrampur. Now, it is from Bhubanewsar to Hazrat Nizamuddin, but it could start from Behrampur. It would connect Behrampur, that is, Southern Orissa to New Delhi. Similarly, the Prasanti Maidan Express, which is presently plying between Vaizag and Bangalore, could be extended up to Bhubaneswar or to Cuttack and that would connect Behrampur and Southern parts of Orissa again to South India in a large way. One train Puri -Jaipur, Rajasthan via Sambalpur, which could be twice a week and one Express train from Behrampur to Tatanagar.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Please conclude now. It is not possible for me to give you more time.
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : On Rourkela, Raiganj, Paradip, Sambalpur, New Delhi line we need a train through Sambalpur. The Ministry has given us three Rajdhanis starting from Bhubaneswar to Delhi thrice a week. Now these trains come through Kharakpur, but what I would suggest is that there are three more trains which should come through Dhenkenal, Angul, Sambalpur and Delhi starting from Bhubaneswar, that would make six Rajdhanis per week and they would cover different parts of Orissa.
Tapaswini Express starts from Bhubaneswar to Sambalpur and it has been extended up to Hatia. I would suggest that it does not exceed the boundaries of Orissa. Tapaswini Express, which earlier used to ply between Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur, should stop at Rourkela and should not go beyond Rourkela.