[Marxistindia] Against Privatisation of Railways

[news from the cpi(m)]

July 2, 2020

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued  
the following statement:

Privatisation of Railways: Self Subservience, Not Self Reliance

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the decision for  
privatisation of the Indian Railways particularly the running of  
passenger trains by private investors over the Indian Railways  
network. This is the first time that this is happening in independent  
India. The private sector utilising the network established over  
centuries with all the required infrastructure will run passenger  
trains making super profits.

The Indian Railways remains as the most important network uniting our  
country and providing public transportation for crores of our people.  
The livelihood of crores of our people are dependent on the railways.   
Such privatisation undermines the basis of India’s self-reliant economy.

Contrary to the claim that this will boost job generation, past  
experience has shown that such privatisation results in a huge job  
loss creating insecurity for crores of employees of the Indian Railways.

The Central Government and Prime Minister Modi refuse to learn from  
international experience of how such privatisation of public transport  
has imposed unprecedented difficulties and burdens on the people. The  
Indian Railways is a public service. It is not a profit generating  
enterprise. This character cannot be undermined.

This decision has come at a time when the country and the people are  
in the midst of a serious effort to combat the surging Covid pandemic.  
Globally, as well as in our country, we have seen how reckless  
privatisation of health facilities have hampered and adversely  
affected the combat against the virus. Health, education, public  
transport are public services that need to be strengthened and not  
weakened through privatisation.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon the central government to  
rescind this decision.




For CPI(M) Central Committee Office