Dear Friend, 

As you might be aware by now that the central government has opened gates for the largest transportation network of the country, the Indian Railways, to be privatised. This move of the present government to sell off a public sector utility which has been the lifeline of over 23 million people who commute on a daily basis across the country today, and upon which lakhs of employees have shed their blood and sweat for the efficient functioning, will not only result in the destruction of lakhs of permanent jobs, but also of several livelihoods. The hardships that countless men and women took to build such a gigantic infrastructure that spans more than 60,000 km was purely for the sake of the utility of the common man. How can such struggles and efforts that have gone into building a public sector entity for decades together all of a sudden be disposed off for privatisation?! Let us not forget, the motive with which the railways was established and developed as a public sector entity was purely to be of service of the common man.

Specially challenged people, senior citizens and persons ailing from chronic diseases & other challenges utilize Indian railways for their regular commuting for treatment and medical purposes since decades. It will be a cruel injustice done towards all of them, once the profit mongering private firms will lay their hands on it. Lakhs of daily wage labourers, migrant workers, and the middle class of this country, all of their livelihood will be in great jeopardy. Affordability will be impossible for the common man of this country to bear, let alone the poor and working section of this country for whom railways has become an inseparable part of their lives.

The Railway minister in a statement last year had himself clarified that Indian railways was not incurring any losses, but was in-fact generating surplus profit, Rs. 1,665.61crore and Rs. 3,774.51crore in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively, and amidst such profitability, the intent of the central government to privatize a public funded, profit making national asset is seemingly inexplicable. Along with this, the freight trains that carry about 3 million metric tonnes daily if succumbs to privatisation, will result in an irreparable loss to the economy as the earnings instead of being utilized for further infrastructure development or for any public utility measures, will be hoarded under an individual’s pocket for his profit alone. Though all said, here the question is never and should definitely be not about profit or loss, as this is a service based setup which involves the common man of this country. If the point however is to eliminate any inefficiencies within the current setup, then issues surrounding red-tapism or corruption should be tackled and addressed instead; privatisation is definitely not at all an alternative. 

In such a situation the "Railway Khasageekarana Virodhi Abhiyana Samiti" vehemently opposes the current move of the central government to privatize Indian railways and sincerely appeals towards them to immediately withdraw the proposed policy keeping in mind the indispensability of the Indian railways to the common man and more importantly to the economic setup of our country. 

The Forum hereby earnestly appeals to all the people of the country to join hands and play your part by signing this petition to help press upon the above