PUNE just fell off the map. Or so it would seem from the Union Railway Budget, presented by Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. ‘‘Maybe the Railway Minister thought that Maharashtra just got wiped off by the tsunami,’’ commented Harsha Shah, member of the Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC). Shah’s was one of several similar views aired by city organisations of rail users.
All the State received on Saturday was its dole of three short distance trains. And that the city has a burgeoning migrant population and flourishing industries was simply ignored — so no green signal showed the way for new trains, extensions or modernisation projects.
Kanubhai Trivedi, president of the Pune Pravasi Sangh, said it is a populist budget that contains nothing for the entire population of Maharashtra. In fact, given sufficient trains and adequate facilities at the station, a hike in fares would also be welcome.
‘‘Even the new trains that have been announced are mostly short-distance ones,’’ he said. The State will now have to brag of three measly short-distance trains — the Belgaum-Miraj passenger that will run five days a week, the Parli-Parbhani passenger and the Gondia-Chanda Fort passenger.
Therefore those frequenting places like Jaipur, Bikaner, Lucknow, New Delhi and Ratnagiri will be spared the trouble of learning the names and numbers of new trains to their destinations. Demands for increasing the frequency of Ahimsa Express to Ahmedabad have also fallen on deaf ears.
Shah lambasted the budget saying it did not have any allocations for modernising the Pune station, which is struggling under the load of increased passenger traffic.
‘‘A separate terminus for goods and local passengers is absolutely essential,’’ she said. She added that even the Karjat-Panvel link — which is complete — did not find a mention.
S C Dube, president of the Uttar Bharatiya Vikas Parishad, called the budget extremely disappointing, since there was no additional connectivity provided to Pune for the northern states. ‘‘Just our Parishad has 35,000 people registered from Uttar Pradesh working in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad,’’ he pointed out.