Participating in the discussion on Railway Budget, M K Raghavan (Cong) said the Budget does not provide detailed explanation of the source of the proposed Rs 8 lakh crore investment envisaged over five year period.
"It is just fudging of numbers and selling of dreams without any roadmap. The Budget is disappointing... It is not a budget for common man. The government has failed to present a roadmap," he said.
He also sought concrete action from the government to ensure that passengers get confirmed reservation.
On a lighter vein, Samajwadi Party member Akshay Yadav welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gesture of having lunch at the Railway Canteen in Parliament, but said MPs should also start taking food provided to general category people in train and shed the VIP culture.
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He also demanded that a new train 'Jansadharan' with 60 per cent unreserved seats should be started for the benefit of poor and farmers. He also demanded six general compartments in every train.
Maintaining that several projects initiated by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in her tenure as Railway Minister still remained incomplete because of lack of allocation in subsequent budgets, Mandal said the Budget was "unique in giving discomfort to the people of West Bengal" as it had provided nothing to improve Kolkata metro rail connectivity.
Observing that Railways should be made self-sufficient, Vijay Hansdak (JMM) said it should not depend on FDI and PPPs for sustenance.
However, Hema Malini (BJP) dubbed the Bugdet as practical and pragmatic and said "it looks like Modi express has steamed off in right direction".