'We Are Not The Ones Making Reels': Ashwini Vaishnaw's Scathing Attack At Oppn In Parliament

Ashwini Vaishnaw said that not one air conditioner was installed in running rooms during the UPA rule, and there were no locomotives with air-conditioned cabins.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi.

Source : PTI

Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday hit out at the opposition while speaking in the Parliament by saying "We are not the people who make reels, but we do hard work unlike you people who make reels for show off."

The Railways Minister was speaking in the Lok Sabha where he slammed the previous UPA government for allegedly not doing enough for ensuring safety of passengers.

"When Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister, she used to give the accident numbers that decreased from 0.24 to 0.19 these people used to clap in the House and today when it has decreased from 0.19 to 0.03, they put such blame. Will this country run in this way?  Congress with the help of its troll army of social media raises false things. Are they trying to infuse fear in the hearts of those 2 crore people who travel every day by railways?" the minister said.

#WATCH | While speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw says, "Those who are shouting here must be asked in their 58 years of being in power why they were not able to install Automatic Train Protection (ATP), even 1 km. Today, they dare to raise the… pic.twitter.com/1f66YxBspV

— ANI (@ANI) August 1, 2024

Vaishnaw accused the opposition Congress and its social media troll army of trying to amplify every small incident on the railways network to instill a sense of fear in more than two crore passengers who use the railway network everyday.

"The attempts by the Congress to spread misinformation will not succeed," the minister said, adding that attempts were made by the Congress and the Samajwadi Party to spread incorrect information about incidents at the Ayodhya railway station.

Speaking on the issue of loco pilots, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the issue was raised by many MPs. "Loco pilots are very important part of the railways family and I will present the steps taken for their benefit. When loco pilots complete their duty, they... running room..."

The Union Minister was then interrupted by the disruption from the opposition MPs to which he responded, "We are not the people who make reels, we do hard work unlike you people who make reels for show off..." 

#WATCH | While speaking in Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw says, "We are not the people who make reels, we do hard work unlike you people who make reels for show off..."

The railway minister says, "The average working and rest times of Loco pilots are… pic.twitter.com/gL2sFgWWZt

— ANI (@ANI) August 1, 2024

The minister was apparently referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's meeting with loco pilots at the New Delhi railway station last month. 

"The average working and rest times of Loco pilots are decided by a rule that was formulated in 2005. In 2016, the rules were amended and Loco pilots were given more facilities. All the running rooms- 558  were made air-conditioned," he said. 

"Loco cabs vibrate much, heated up and hence more than 7,000 loco cabs are air-conditioned. It was zero in the time of those people who today show sympathy by making reels," he added. 

He further said that not one air conditioner was installed in running rooms during the UPA rule, and there were no locomotives with air-conditioned cabins.

Opposition members trooped to the Well of the House raising slogans  'Railway Minister go back', 'Reel Minister haay, haay' and 'Reel Minister isteefa do' before staging a walkout.

Vaishnaw said Kavach 4.0 received certification by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation on July 17 this year and three manufacturers of the system have scaled up their production capabilities.

"Two new manufacturers are also coming onboard, more than 8,000 engineers and technicians have been trained, six universities have introduced Kavach in their syllabus," Vaishnaw said.

Now, we are in such a situation that we can implement Kavach on a large scale. Tenders are in process for implementing Kavach on 9,000 km. In the next few months, we will start implementing Kavach 4.0 on 10,000 coaches, the minister said.