GUWAHATI, March 2 � The NF Railway Mazdoor Union and the All India Railwaymen�s Federation (AIRF) have opposed any attempt to open the Indian Railways to FDI.
�The NF Railway Mazdoor Union and the AIRF strongly protest induction of FDI in the Indian Railways, as this will open the flood-gate of privatisation of the Indian Railways through corporatisation,� Rakhal Das Gupta, general secretary of the Union said.
Referring to the Rail Budget, he said, �The Railway Minister has very cleverly coined the word Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Indian Railways as Multilateral Development Banks.�
He said that the Rail Budget, presented in the floor of the Parliament on Saturday last, has disheartened the people of the North Eastern region.
�In the last Rail Budget, submitted on the floor of the Parliament on July 8, 2014, more than Rs 5,000 crore was allotted for the projects of the NE region. This time, only Rs 3,000 has been allotted to all the projects of the NE region and Jammu & Kashmir put together. This will retard the progress of railway projects in the NE region. Besides, there is no mention in the Budget regarding construction of double line, electrification of railway track, etc.,� said Das Gupta, who is also the president of AIRF.
