Disappointment in Tripura over rail budget

Agartala, July 9 (IANS) Political parties in Tripura Wednesday criticised the central government for neglecting the state in the rail budget and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of appeasing the corporate sector.

The Left-ruled state accused the Narendra Modi-led central government of ignoring it in allocation of funds for the ongoing railway projects, including the proposed rail link between state capital Agartala and Bangladesh's Akhaurah city.

"We would raise our strong protest in both houses of parliament for neglecting Tripura and other northeastern states in the Railway Budget," Tripura's three MPs - Jitendra Chowdhury, Sankar Prasad Datta (both Lok Sabha) and Jharna Das Baidya (Rajya Sabha) - said in a joint statement.

They belong to the state's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government to appease the corporate lobby by this Railway Budget further burdened the common people by not taking any steps which could ease the problems of general citizen."

The statement said there was no mention in the Railway Budget about the on-going railway schemes, declared as national projects, being implemented in the state.

"The much awaited project of rail link between Agartala and Bangladesh's Akhaurah city found no mention in the budget," thne statement noted.

"Though there are proposal to increase allocation of funds for some of the railway projects in the northeastern states, but there is no specific reference about many on going projects in the region," it added.

Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, in the budget presented in parliament Tuesday, said the railways have allocated an outlay of Rs.5,116 crore for projects in the northeastern region.

This is 54 percent jump over allocations in the last year, he added.

Meanwhile, Ashish Saha, the working president of the Congress party's state unit, said the BJP-led central government was trying to make the corporate sector happy.

"The BJP earlier opposed foreign direct investment in railways and other sector. Now the party in power has proposed FDI in the railways," Saha told IANS.

"We are yet to see the detailed allocation of budget for the railway projects in the northeast region. If there is no specific allotment of funds in the budget for the railway projects in Tripura, it would be most unfortunate and frustrating."