Sorry! Mr. Rail Minister, (Suresh Prabhu), We, The (common men) Are Not At All Impressed with Your Maiden Rail Budget & Your Performance Till Date.

In the interest of one & all….

Frankly speaking, Mr. Prabhu, I have been your great admirer since you were a minister in A.B.Vajpayee cabinet during NDA rule. You were known to be the most able & result oriented minister & in the good books of Mr. Vajpayee. People also know you to be one who floated the idea of interlinking rivers to the nation. Our PM Mr. Modi was very much aware of your capability, this is the reason, he inducted you in his cabinet out of the way. Perhaps it was your virtues, you were then called back to state politics, & definitely not any other reason, I am sure.

But some of your recent statements one after another disappoint me greatly. First- "If there is no noticeable change in 15 days, I will treat myself as an inefficient minister”. Then came your bold ad missal of corruption in railways. And just recently, PM Mr. Modi concerns about late running of trains.

In this connection, I most humbly & respectfully wish to ask you & state as under:

1) You are hiring & inducting Top people from various fields such as Mr. Sreedharan & recently Ratan Tata.....etc. in your advising team to find out the ways & means to turnaround the Rlys. On the contrary, factually nothing changed at the ground level nearing one year of your taking charge of rly ministry. It appears to us all that you are keen to serve mainly 20% of affordable & rich class & less interested to serve 80% of middle & poor common man.

2) Why it is still a herculean task to get an ordinary ticket in 05 minutes as per your budgetary announcement, when it can be made available in just few seconds. I myself availed this facility from a weighing like machine, manned by a man at Anand Vihar rly station about 02 years ago. How & why that useful service was dismantled is big question mark?

3)Why it is a nightmare to get a confirmed ticket to the desired destination in any train, particularly New Delhi/Delhi to Gorakhpur ( North Eastern Rly, Head Quarter).I don't remember, in the last twenty(20) years or so, I have got a confirmed ticket without manipulation /jugaad at some level or the other. So is the case during return journey also & surprisingly same position lasts the whole year. This is when, I am from Rly background & most of my nearest relatives still work in Rlys.

4) While we are pleading for one reserved ticket, how miraculously the whole train tickets get exhausted within 33 seconds from Ahmedabad to Mumbai premium train, a great news a few months back.

5) Why entire big railway station areas are surrounded by unauthorized persons, non- passengers, anti- social elements such as Dalals, Thugs, Pickpockets, & petty thieves......etc. & how they have a free run & thus making the whole place looks like a fish market. Can't we expect to have our big stations look like & maintained as METRO stations.

6) Why all platforms are encroached either by long distanced passengers, or by Rlys goods of all types including perishable goods and also by different types of food vendors with proper & unauthorized both causing much hardships to genuine passengers.

7)  Why there is only much noise & there is no quality catering & other related services yet. And how unauthorized sellers & vendors of all hues have easy access to all coaches including ACs.

Mr. Minister!  All the above mentioned flaws/shortcomings are not very big but the basic ones , which can be easily overcome by proper supervision & monitoring on a regular basis but not so far been done, is really unfortunate.

While on the subject, you are now advised to think holistically towards reaching the ideal solutions as per the following:

8) Why do not you work on a system on war footing to accommodate all passengers, the confirmed tickets & ensure safe journey to their desired destinations, in any train somehow, if not possible in preferred train, due to heavy rush in crisis or peak/festivals season.

9) Why don't you make up your mind to abolish the sick practice of waiting list in Tatkal Seva & make it a sure possibility that henceforth there would be no WL at all in any train, means pledge to provide confirmed & safe journey to all.

10) Since my University days, (1975 or so), I used to hear construction of Double Line (Gorakhpur- New Delhi) yet to be completed. Please determine to complete these types of unfinished projects, all Over India soon on top priority basis.

11) We already have the technology to run trains at 150 KM/HOUR, make it to run at least 200 km/hour, by deploying Chinese assistance through collaborations. Let all super-fast & premium trains run at this speed & ensure everyone reserved tickets on even day to day basis, people will be overwhelmed on your this achievement, I assure you, Mr. Prabhu.

12) Projects like Bullet Train should be your last priority, only after successfully completion of the above mentioned urgent tasks, first.

Finally what & whom are you waiting for after recent revelation by Mr. Sreedharan also about mass-scale rampant corruptions to the tune of multi-crores in Rlys. Kindly introspect seriously, how Mafias have empowered the entire Rlys from top to bottom. Without any further delay, set up a very high powered task force to find out the big fish and black sheep’s in entire Rlys, sack them & hence break the neck of mighty mafias & its networks from its base once & for all. Only then, complete turnaround is possible, Mr. Minister. All the best & good luck in your pious endeavor.

JAIHIND!

[Writer (Sinha.P.K a member, AAP) is an amateur & views are strictly personal. Feedback / Criticism welcome at Email -pkmsinha@gmail.com or follow @ pkmsinha.blogspot.in]