By IANS,
New Delhi : Thousands of railway employees Wednesday marched to the heart of the capital to urge Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the budgetary support to the Indian Railways.
The march, under the banner of All India Railwaymen’s Federation, culminated in a meeting on Parliament Street.
Addressing the rally, federation general secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra criticised the government for giving only Rs.24,000 crore budgetary support to the railways despite its 64,000 km network, 6,000 stations, over 19,000 trains and service to two crore people daily.
“There is every likelihood that our freight earnings may be hit by competition from the road (transport). It has become essential to save the Indian Railways. The government should come forward to financially support it,” he said.
According to the federation, the railway employees had assembled also to press for their demands of filling up 2.5 lakh vacancies, out of which 1.5 lakh were related to safety and maintenance.
They also demanded the removal of what they called anomalies in the Sixth Central Pay Commission.