Mumbai: Now under PPP, a solar plant along with a hospital can be installed on the vacant land of the railway. It is noteworthy that under the recently announced ‘PM Gati Shakti Scheme’, a revised policy has been approved regarding the use of thousands of acres of vacant land for the Railways.
Under this policy, doors have been opened for the private sector to get railway land on lease. A senior railway official said that railway land would be available for public use, including setting up of solar plants, and construction of cargo terminals, besides building hospitals and schools.
35-year lease
Under the PM Gati Shakti Yojana, vacant railway plots can be given on lease for 35 years to the private sector for use. It will be available at just 1.5% of the market rate for the cargo terminal. In addition, plots will be provided for hospitals and schools with a nominal annual fee of Re 1 per sqm per annum. It was told that a new land policy has been set for the PM Gati Shakti Framework.
300PM Speed Shakti Cargo
Under this 300 PM, Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals will be developed. The government claims that this will increase the share of railways in freight traffic and will create around 1.2 lakh jobs in the next 5 years. This will reduce the load on the railways. Privatization will be encouraged. Provision has also been made to provide railway plots for use under public services like electricity, gas, water supply, sewage disposal, and urban transport.
Opposition to privatization
Railways claim that the vacant lands will be used for public interest, while some organizations are seeing it as a private sector occupation. The organizations are protesting against the ever-increasing interference of the private sector in the Railways. CRMS spokesperson Amit Bhatnagar said that the national convention of railway employees running after NFIR in Secunderabad also protested against privatization. Amit Bhatnagar said that the condition of the houses of the employees who shed their blood and sweat in the development of railways is dilapidated. No effort is being made to rectify the deteriorating condition of the quarters given to them. Bhatnagar said that only the work of benefitting the private sector is being done. Even in Mumbai, the arrangement of railway employees from their place of work to their stay is bad.
