Working on lines parallel to the railways, and the passenger traffic decline has been attributed to natural economic conditions prevailing in the country. In regard to the fall in goods traffic, I agree that it is the concern of the railways to the ensure that the income should not fall but it should be seen that they do nothing so that the private operators of transport who do a national service would go out of existence. It is true that the private operators have been able to defy competition by the railways but it must have happened because the private operators have given able to defy competition by the raiwlays but it must have happened because the private operators have given economic and operational advantages which the railways could not give, and I incline to say that if the railways authorities give the same advantages economic as well as operational, I am sure that they will get back all the clients who have gone away from them. I hope the railway authorities and the government would look into this matter in this view and do nothing so that the private operators go out of existence. There is great need for these private operators and so I repeat that the railways authorities should think twice and should give their due attention before taking any wrong step that would drive these operators from their operations. The fall in passenger traffic, I hope, is a temporary feature and I hope also that it will be all right when we recover from the conditions which we passed through last year. The speech of the railway minister, introducing the budget, has been a very pleasant and good one. There has been improvement in every sphere and activity of the railway administration. The rolling stock has increased considerably.
