Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Monday said that the government is giving top priority to safety in railways. Railways is spending Rs 1.14 lakh crore per annum on safety.
Responding to the discussion on the Railway Amendment Bill 2024 in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the annual rail accident rate has come down from 171 incidents to 30. The Railway Amendment Bill 2024 was approved by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 11 last year. The Railway Amendment Bill, 2024 provides for increasing the independence of the Railway Board and improving its functioning.
Response to Railway Amendment Bill
The Railway Minister said, 'In the UPA government, the investment for increasing safety used to be between Rs 8 thousand to 10 thousand crore. Today we are investing more than Rs 1.14 lakh crore every year on increasing safety. He said that steps have been taken to improve tracks, safety equipment and level crossings.'
He said that 4.11 lakh jobs were given during the UPA tenure, and 5.02 lakh jobs were given in the NDA government. He said, now the general managers have 100 percent authority to accept the contract, whether the tender amount is Rs 10 crore or Rs 1,000 crore. General managers have also been given the right to approve projects less than Rs 50 crore. Vaishnav rejected the opposition's apprehension that the Railway Amendment Bill would reduce the power of state governments.
Advised the opposition not to do politics
The Railway Minister advised not to do politics on rail accidents like the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station during Kumbh, saying that the Railway Ministry has taken several measures learning from this incident, which includes creating waiting areas to control the crowd at major stations of the country.
Vaishnav said that the matter is under investigation. It is worth mentioning that on February 15, 18 people died in a stampede at New Delhi Railway Station. Opposition members accused the government of trying to take control of the Railway Board through the Railway Amendment Bill, 2024, and said it was avoiding scrutiny by a parliamentary committee.
Congress member Vivek K. Tankha alleged that the independence of the Railway Board has ended under the proposed law. He demanded autonomy for the Railway Board. Trinamool Congress's Prakash Baraik said the bill should be sent to a select committee of Parliament.
Corona cases are increasing in the country. In the last week, 752 new cases of corona have been r
After heavy rain on Wednesday night in Delhi and NCR, light rain continued on Thursday as well. E
IND vs ENG: 'I forgot what my position is...', why did KL Rahul say this after his century?
The Indian team performed brilliantly on the fourth day of the Headingley Test. Especially the pa
The government said in Parliament on Thursday that cases of atrocities against various minority c
The government has approved the Railway Board's proposal to increase the fare in long distance tr
Bigg Boss 19: Abhishek and Awez clash on Bigg Boss! An angry Amaal Malik slams them.
There's a lot of commotion going on in Bigg Boss these days. The captaincy task is underway. No t
Amid uproar by the opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, the bill providing 4% reservation for mi
Another piece of sad news is coming from the entertainment world. After Dharmendra, another veter
Salman Khan wept uncontrollably while remembering Dharmendra, saying, "Everyone was crying, but..."
Today marks the 90th birthday of the late actor Dharmendra. Although he is no longer in this worl
Abhishek Sharma, a rising star in the Indian T20 team, no longer wants to limit himself to the sh
