well, its time we see things with a different perspective. We cannot run any organisation just to serve the people. It must bring in effective utilisation of resources and at the same time must make money in a justified manner, which currently is not happening.
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Second, its the hardearned tax money of the honest tax payers that gets wasted in the name of subsidies. You talk about people being BPL, well, its not really the Govt`s fault that they are BPL. in a free India, everybody has a chance to make money,...
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hence paying for somebody`s journey just becuase they dont earn much seems a really stupid idea. If they dont have money, then for travelling they will work harder and thus earn more money to enable them to travel.
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thridly, alternate forms of transport will develop, there will be other modes of transport that will cater to those people who cant afford trains.
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We had govt run enterprises for nearly 5 decades and except a few, all have turned into white elephants, billions have been wasted in the name of pseudo-socialism. Railways is in no way different, we hardly make any money on SL and GN classes.
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that does not mean we privatise everything and that too at one go. It should be a level playing ground for both public and pvt players.