Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Government attracted towards private players' that was published in Newsband

Government attracted towards private players

The Union government is giving operations of railway lines to private players for enhancing competition. It’s an exciting proposition. It will also improve customer satisfaction. Suresh Prabhu resigned following a string of derailments. The new Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is studying various models for attracting more private players. He is willing to spend unlimited funds on safety. Clearing the backlog for track renewal would be his focus, and a zero accident rate would be an aspiration.

The government is engaging with other countries to “rapidly scale up” the bullet train project. It is trying to attract private companies for modernising railway stations.

In July 2015, the Union Cabinet had approved redeveloping 400 railway stations. It invited open bids from private sector developers through the Swiss Challenge model. The Railway Ministry has so far invited bids for 23 stations that had seen lukewarm response from the private sector

The Railways will move from diesel to electric locomotives. It intends to electrify the entire railway network. Electricity is a domestic and self-sufficient resource whereas we have to import diesel. After Mr. Goyal took charge, the Railways decided to shelve plans to set up a diesel locomotive plant in Marhowrah district of Bihar.

But there are some critics who say that Government had handed over to National Highway to Toll gate operators for long lease, Airport Maintenance was given to private players and similarly, Railway lines are also handed over to private player on long lease so that they can mint money at the cost of common man. Customer stands to lose if fares go up as it had happened around the world.  

It is noticed that big business is one group which is benefiting from Modi rule. Privatisation of railways is another example

A suggestion has been made to let all house rooftops in the country have solar panels by 100% investment by GoI. Solar panels and electric engines must be indigenous. If all motor vehicles have to be electric then Atomic power is the only solution as it may produce huge electricity without much pollution.

Newer and newer experiments have become a new norm for the ruling party. It seems they are very much obsessed with changes. One tends to think that they are more concerned about the so-called private players. They need to care for the common people. This government wants to give everything to corporates. "For Profit" corporates will not make things easier for common people and would surely ruin everything for poor people.