New Delhi: Congress on February 26 dubbed as "status quoist" the 2003-04 Rail Budget, which it said lacked fresh initiative to improve the finances and the functioning of the railways showed that the Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has confused political cowardice with populism.

"Railway Minister Nitish Kumar presented a status-quoist Budget without any fresh initiative to improve the finances of the functioning of the Railways," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy said in a statement.

Stating that the Budget graphically exposed the increasing bankruptcy and decreasing revenues of the railways, he said passenger traffic and passenger earnings have sharply declined.

Despite increasing frequency in railway accidents, he said new initiatives have not been taken to strengthen the railway safety. Freight movement presents a picture of stagnation.

Although Kumar was seeking bouquets for not increasing the rail fare, Reddy said the Railway Minister could not be complimented for not making enough effort to increase internal resource generation.

"With the result, the annual plan of the railways shows more dependence on market borrowings than on internal resources," he said, adding that while refraining from starting new railway projects, even the initiative for proceedings with work on old projects is so far half-hearted that only 225 route km of new lines are being proposed to be completed.

"The Budget conclusively shows that Kumar has confused political cowardice with populism," he said.

PTI