Lok Sabha discusses demands for grants of Railway Ministry

Top officials of the Railway Board and more than 100 members participated in a meeting on Thursday and Lok Sabha set a record of sorts by continuing with its proceedings for more than 12 hours to discuss the demands for grants for the Railway Ministry. It is said that the discussion ended two minutes before midnight. 

On Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the discussion went on till midnight because every member wanted to take part. He said that it was for the first time in nearly 18 years that the Lower House had sat this long. Reportedly there were more than 100 members who took part in the discussion. 

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was likely to reply to the debate on Friday afternoon, following which the Demands for Grants will be put to vote.

The opposition accused the Centre of selling the assets of Railways instead of developing the sector during the debate, while the government argued that it had doubled the capital expenditure compared to the UPA rule.

Whereas, the Congress, TMC, NCP, DMK and other opposition parties launched a scathing attack on the government, accusing it of attempting to "privatize" the Indian Railways and employing manual scavengers through contractors. Also, the Bullet Train came under attack of oppositions. 

Intervening, Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi told the Lok Sabha that a lot of developments had taken place under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi like making it's functioning "apolitical".