AT the call of the CPI(M) Odisha state committee, demonstration and dharna programmes against the Railway Budget were held before different railway stations of Odisha on July 9, 2014. Suresh Panigrahy, state secretariat member of the Party, Sala Marandi, president of Odisha Adivasi Adhikar Manch, Sarat Das, SFI state secretary led the demonstration. At Cuttack, the demonstration was led by Rabinarayan Mallick, secretary Cuttack district committee of CPI(M), Pratap Mohapatro, Cuttack local committee secretary, Nirmal Das and others. At Berhampur, a dharna was organised before the railway station which was led by Ali Kishor Patnaik, state secretariat member of the Party, Kailash Sadangi and Judhisthira Behera, district secretariat members and Basanat Nanda, secretary of Berhampur local committee of the Party. Similar Demonstrations were also held at Balasore and Jaleswar. Kamal Chakravarty, Sandhya Das of AIDWA and others led the demonstrations. Meetings were held at all these places and the speakers highlighted the apathy of the central government towards Odisha. Every year in the railway budget, Odisha is neglected. This year too Odisha is neglected. The change of government at the centre made no difference. Indian railway is collecting 14,000 crores of rupees as revenue from Odisha every year where as the allocation in the present budget is only 1400 crores. Seven districts of the state do not as yet have railway connectivity. No allocation has been made for any fresh survey, though the demand is pending since long. The amount sanctioned for the ongoing projects are also meagre. The speakers termed the proposed railway budget as anti-people and pro-corporate and the proposal for PPP mode is meant to loot public money by the private companies. Linking of railway fare with the oil price will lead to frequent fare hike which will hit the common man. Much touted bullet trains will in no way serve the interest of the common man of the country. The real policies of the Modi government have come to the fore in the railway budget which will pave the way for privatisation of Indian railways.