Rail denies opposition charges on cut in safety bill, says Rs 1 lakh crore spent in 5 years

NEW DELHI: Dismissing the opposition charges about the railways cutting spending on rail safety, the national transporter on Monday said it had spent more than Rs 1 lakh crore on safety measures between 2017-2018 and 2021-22. It cited records to show a steady growth in expenditure on track renewal.

Officials also said they would soon reply to last year’s CAG report which was cited by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to attack the Centre over Friday’s accident involving three trains in Odisha’s Balasore. Kharge has written to PM Narendra Modi saying that “all the empty safety claims” of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had been “exposed”. He also said there is serious concern among people about the deterioration in safety of railways. The CAG report had said that the amount spent on railway safety and track repair was inadequate.

Railway officials said the report did not capture the total spending between 2017-18 and 2021-22 as it covered data for three years up to 2019-20.