RailEnquiry

LUCKNOW: In what is being seen as veiled attack on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said that the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli has started in a short time despite obstacles created by 'some people'. Sonia's attack on BSP also assumes importance in the light of the recent development in which the BSP announced to field candidate against the Congress president from Rae Bareli in 2014 lok sabha elections.On two-day visit to her constituency Rae Bareli, Sonia, after inaugurating the rail coach factory, said that when the project was launched, rumours were spread by some persons against it but despite that the project has been completed in a short time. Before flagging off 20 coaches produced in the factory which would be used in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, Sonia inspected them and said she was feeling elated while flagging off the coaches from here.She also distributed appointment letters to 14 persons (local residents) whose families have contributed their land for building the Rail Coach Factory; one person from each family is being provided employment. Minister for railways, Pawan Kumar Bansal, was present on the occasion. Vinay Mittal, chairman of railway board, Vijay Kumar Gupta, general manager of northern railway and senior railway officers were also present on the occasion.

The setting up of the new rail coach manufacturing unit at Rae Bareli was approved by the Parliament during the supplementary budget 2006-07. The foundation stone for the construction of a new rail coach factory at Rae Bareli was laid on February 13, 2007 by Sonia Gandhi.

Once fully functional, factory is expected to roll out 1,000 coaches annually. The factory will also have in-built capability to roll out 14 types of coaches with state-of-the technology.

The doubling of the 65.6km rail section between Utrahtia-Rae Bareli of Lucknow Varansi section of Lucknow Division (65.600 Kms) on northern railway is budgetary plan of the Railway to enhance the line capacity on this dense route. The cost of project is estimated at Rs. 264.82 crore. The project alignment runs close to Uttar Pradesh State Highways No. SH - 36 in with adequate means of communication. The railway stations serving the area are connected with existing network of roads and some of these are linked with State Highways/district roads also.

The concept of Multi-Functional Complexes was mooted in the budgetary plan 2009-10 in order to provide rail users with facilities such as shopping, food stalls/ restaurants, book stalls, ATMs, medicines and variety stores, budget hotels, parking etc. in a centralized complex through private investment. The work of Multi-Functional Complex at Rae Bareli at an estimated Cost of Rs 1.4cr would provide the facilities of food court, ice-cream parlor, pharmacy and Internet Cafe to rail users.

On the demand from local public and on the intervention of Sonia Gandhi, Bansal announced providing of stoppage to Padmavat Express at Bachharawan station and stoppage to Rae Bareli-Allahabad Intercity Express at Harchalpur station. He also announced a cash award of Rs. 25 lakh to Rail Coach Factory, Rae Bareli and Rs.10 lakh to Northern Railway.

Sonia said that it was the third coach factory in the country, on which of the total project cost of Rs 2,700 crore Rs 800 crore have been spent till now and added that new technologies are being used here to provide better facilities to people. The factory is expected to cater to railways' increasing demand for coaches by annually rolling out about 1,000 coaches. Currently, the factory is engaged only in assembling coaches.

Stating that establishment of the factory would not only generate employment opportunities for locals but also ensure development of the area, Sonia said that for the start of the factory full compensation was given to farmers by the railways. "The regional industries are likely to grow and locals will find new employment opportunities", she added. She also distributed appointment letters to a few farmers after inauguration. More than 1,400 farmers will be offered jobs in the factory.

Political analysts said that Sonia's remark on Wednesday targeted Mayawati but did not name anybody because she knows that the Congress led UPA government at the centre is dependent on the BSP after withdrawal of support by the Trinmool Congress. The Congress also does not want snap polls because political atmosphere in the country at present is against it due to high inflation and scams under UPA 2. The party needs time to repair its image.

The UPA 2 is also dependent on the support of the Samajwadi Party (SP). Both the SP and the BSP have extended support to the UPA 2 saying that they want to keep `communal forces' (BJP) at bay. The SP government after coming to power in the state in March cooperated with the Centre in completion of the rail coach factory project. The SP has also announced not to field any candidate against Sonia. In return, the SP government has asked for more funds from the Centre for various development schemes for the state. The SP government also needs money and to fulfill its poll promise of free laptops and tablets to students, farm loan waiver etc.

But the BSP does not want to be seen standing along with the Congress on other issues. As a result, it has decided to field candidate against Sonia. The BSP's fear is that the Congress may try to make inroads into its Dalit vote bank.