Opposition to block move to make states spend on rail projects

NEW DELHI: A Centre versus states battle is seemingly being revived ahead of the Parliament’s monsoon session beginning July 18, with Opposition MPs determined to

NEW DELHI: A Centre versus states battle is seemingly being revived ahead of the Parliament’s monsoon session beginning July 18, with Opposition MPs determined to block the government’s plan to have the state governments bear partial costs for executing rail projects.

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The Dinesh Trivedi-headed parliamentary standing committee is understood to have witnessed major fireworks on the subject on Tuesday, with some arguing that the plan would benefit the rich states at the expense of the poor.

Earlier this year, railways minister Suresh Prabhu wrote letters to state chief ministers, calling for participation of states to create Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to raise money to execute pending projects. States would have to bear 51% and Railways would bear 49%.

“The Railways have integrated the country, but the current plan will lead to its disintegration. The constitution does not permit the government to take a unilateral decision on allocating 49% resources from the Consolidated Fund of India to one or a clutch of states at the expense of others. The Railways cannot discriminate between the rich and poor states,” said Trivedi.

Janata Dal (United) leader Bashisht Narain Singh said his party would oppose the “government’s move to gift bounties on richer states”. “This ‘pro-rich’ government is conspiring to snatch away facilities of cheap travel from the poorest sections of society,” he said.