Saturday, February 25 2006 11:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Charging the Union Government with 'indifferent attitude' on railway safety, Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister Jayalalithaa today(Feb 25,2006) said even with the so called surplus funds with the Railways, the much needed higher investment on passenger safety 'has been totally ignored'.

Reacting to the 2006-07 Railway Budget presented in the Parliament yesterday, Jayalalithaa, said the Centre had 'miserably failed' to address the need to further the economic interests of the state "by not announcing a dedicated freight corridor originating from Chennai to New Delhi and Mumbai,while announcing a dedicated freight corridors for Eastern and Western sectors".

On the proposed 'Garib Rath', she said it 'Seems to be a mockery' with fares as high as two-and-a-half times the normal second class fares.

"Instead of providing a healing touch to the common man, whose travel expenses have gone up steeply thanks to the unprecedented fuel price hikes inflicted by the union government, it is trying to pay lip service by proclaiming that the fare for the First AC and Second AC classes have been reduced", she said.

While it has been trumpeted that the output, growth and fund balances of the Indian Railways have made a historic turnaround, "It is really disappointing to note that no honest attempt has been made to transfer the benefits of the so called achievements to the needy and the poorer sections of our society", she said.