Rail Budgets were only for pleasing MPs: Modi

New Delhi: Pitching for a paradigm shift in the development of the railways, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that his government has moved away from the lure of politics while presenting the Rail Budget.

“The focus of our Rail Budgets has never been politics. We have worked towards a paradigm shift in the railways,” Mr Modi said, addressing railway officials at a special camp at Surajkund in Haryana.

The Modi government has decided to scrap the 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget from the next financial year.

The Prime Minister said that earlier, the focus of the Rail Budgets had always been pleasing MPs by giving more stops or additional coaches for trains in their constituencies, which has been changed now. He said that the railways needed to shore up on the front of innovation.

“Our railways has to develop and be financially strong. This benefits India and particularly those working for the railways,” Mr Modi added. He was addressing a special camp being organised by Indian railways, which is debating ideas for change. The railways has crowdsourced reform ideas from its 13 lakh employees, and it has received 1.5 lakh suggestions on issues ranging from cleanliness, improving passenger amenities, safety of railway employees, increasing earnings from freight and making journeys a pleasant experience for its 23 million passengers every day.

Mr Modi said that each official doing their own work is good, but we also have to work together and think about how we want the railways to be. “This is a technology driven century. Innovation is important. Railways has to be about both gati and pragati (speed and development),” Mr Modi said.