He also said that the Rail Budget has been hiked in 10 years from `29,000 crore in 2014 to `2.52 lakh crore.Participating in the discussion, Samajwadi Party’s Neeraj Maurya said the government should have sent this Bill to an all-party committee for deliberation. He said the government should look at ways to monitor the functioning of Railway Board. “Railways is the lifeline of crores of people. Do not take the privatisation route for railways,” he said.TMC’s Bapi Haldar demanded that ticket concessions to senior citizens, withdrawn during the Covid, be restored.Pointing out that the government has worked towards the improvement of infrastructure and services in railways, BJP MP Dharambir Singh suggested that the rail ministry further the metro network to endow more accessible and cost-effective long-distance travel.Aazad Samaj Party MP Chandrasekhar Azad said the Bill could potentially lead to basic powers of the Railways being weakened further. He said that Railways’ operational flexibility and decision-making must not be compromised.
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