Thursday, August 11 2005 18:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Members in the Lok Sabha today (Aug 11, 2005) said Railways needed to get its act together by undertaking fast completion of unfinished projects, by providing better amenities to commuters and by spreading the network in backward regions.

Participating in the combined discussion on supplementary demands for grants (Railways) and demands for excess grants (Railways), they wanted that the Railways make use of the vast stretches of fallow land in planting trees like "ratanjyot" which produce biodiesel.

Initiating the discussion, Laxman Singh (BJP) pleaded that the Railway Minister needed to pay more attention to the Ministry and less to Bihar. "Running Railways from Chhapra (constituency of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad) will not do", he said.

K V Thangka Balu (Cong) regretted that Tamil Nadu had not got its due share from Railways P Karunakaran (CPM) wanted doubling of Konkan Railway for better communication among states on the west coast.

Ramji Lal Suman (SP) sought to know how many top officials were proceeded against following accidents on tracks and how the Railways planned to complete its projects pending for a number of years.

Ram Kripal Yadav (RJD) was all praise for Prasad saying his stewardship of the Ministry had resulted in the Railways generating Rs 8,000 crore surplus within a year.