KOCHI: The LDF on Wednesday termed the railway budget anti-people, saying it had completely neglected the state. Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said the budget presented by Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has been unkind to the state. Nothing much had been offered to the state except for some surveys, he told reporters. CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan also said there was disappointment with regard to the railway budget. He said the state has been neglected once again in the railway budget. Former minister in-charge of Railways M Vijayakumar said the state had not been neglected in such a manner in the recent past. “The Centre has not considered many of the pending demands of the state,” he said. Noting that the Indian Railways did not have a national policy, he said most of the Railway ministers are interested only in bringing development to their own states. “The Railway map ends in Chennai. The demand for a railway zone for Kerala has not yet been accepted,” he said. Lashing out at the Centre for increasing the hike in passenger fares, he said the fare had been hiked in the guise that the Railways was facing losses. Stating that there was a move to privatise railways, he said that the Railways was trying to implement new programmes with private partnership.
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