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.