Railway accidents have come down: Mamata

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Indian Railways' supplementary demands for grant for fiscal 2010-11 with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee suggesting a one-time special grant worth a few thousand crore rupees to help the ministry tide over its monetary crunch.

Responding to the debate on supplementary demands for grant for her ministry, Mamata went on to suggest a special development scheme for railways named after the prime minister on the lines of Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Yojna.

"There is the Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Yojna for transport sector. I think there should also be a Prime Minister's Railways Vikas (Development) Scheme," said Mamata to the amusement of the house.

"I will request all members to join me in requesting the prime minister to consider allocating an one-time special grant for railways to rid it of its financial problem," said Mamata.

She put forward her request while apprising the house of the monetary crunch faced by railways, which, she said, was also partly due to implementation of the the Sixth Pay Commission recommendation. She, however, did not specify clearly the sum she required for the railways.

The minister also availed the opportunity to respond to critics who accuse her of neglecting her ministry by being away in her home state.

"The railway minister does not run the train. The minister's job is to take policy decisions, decide on administrative matters," said Mamata, adding: "I do not have a single file pending on my table."

She went on to reel out the names of various policies she has framed for her ministry in recent months and the documents that she released on its behalf.

They included Indian Railways' White Paper, its Vision 2020 Document besides the new catering policy and recruitment policy.

The minister also said that railway accidents have come down in recent years, and pointed out that the number of deaths do not bear any direct proportion to the number of accidents.

"Law and order is not the subject of the railway," she said adding that state governments too will have to take responsibility for the safe passage of railways through their territories.

"Trains do not traverse through sky. They run on ground. They run through towns and villages," she said.