NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha on Wednesday discussed the working of the Ministry of Railways after the opposition slammed the government for privatising Indian Railways operations and compromising the safety of passengers. As the House was adjourned early on Wednesday owing to Holi festivities, Congress MP Rajiv Shukla, who was in the chair, declared that inconclusive discussion would continue with the Minister’s reply on Monday.Earlier, taking part in the discussion, DMK’s NR Elango alleged that 2 million jobs in the Railways have been cut due to contract and outsourcing systems adopted for engaging the workforce.The DMK MP said, after the BJP government came to power in 2015, a NITI Aayog committee proposed a two-decade vision to privatise major segments of India’s extensive railway network. But since then the government has implemented various privatisation measures through multiple approaches, he added.“In the past three or four years we have lost valuable lives of 400 passengers due to train accidents, compared to zero deaths between 2018 and 2021. Why is this happening? This is happening because of privatisation of employees,” he said, while alleging that the government has been “giving the line maintenance, the infrastructure maintenance, everything to contractors”.
Source link
