Opposition members on Wednesday said the government should not privatise Indian Railways as it will hurt the interest of poor people and demanded that concession for senior citizens be restored.

Participating in the debate on the Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the Lok Sabha, Neeraj Maurya (SP) said the government should have sent this bill to an all-party committee for deliberation.

Maurya also said the government should look at ways to monitor the functioning of Railway Board. "Railways is the lifeline of crores of people. Do not take the privatisation route for railways." Manoj Kumar (INC) claimed that after the passage of the Bill, the government would look for scope to privatise railways.

Bapi Haldar (TMC) demanded that rail ticket concessions to senior citizens, which was withdrawn during Covid, be restored.

Moving the Bill for discussion, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the efficiency of Indian Railways will improve with the passage of the Bill.

Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 bill proposes to simplify the legal framework by incorporating the proposals of the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 in the Railways Act, 1989. This will reduce the need to refer to two laws.

Vaishnaw said the number of rail accidents has come down from 171 during UPA regime to 40 in 2023-24. In the current fiscal, 29 rail accidents have taken place so far.

Also, the Rail Budget has been hiked in 10 years from Rs 29,000 crore in 2014 to Rs 2.52 lakh crore.

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