Unions Protest As Railways Mulls Opening Its Stadiums For Commercial use

The Railways' largest workers' union has said the stadiums are not surplus and unusable railway land which can be handed over to anybody else.

The Indian Railways' largest workers' union has hit out at the Railway Board over its decision to hand over 15 of its stadiums to the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) to conduct "techno-economic studies for commercial development". In a reply to a query in Parliament in March this year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the national transporter has identified 87 land parcels, 84 railway colonies, four hill railways and three stadiums for asset monetisation so far. He said that the Railways has planned to monetise assets, including Dedicated Freight Corridors after commissioning, railway land parcels, railway colonies, hill railways and stadiums. "The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) is with the sentiments of lakhs of railwaymen, their families, children and sports persons since strong resentment and anguish is seen all over the Railway Fraternity against arbitrary decision of the Railway Board to handover the railway sports grounds/complex and stadiums to the RLDA for commercial development," Shiva Gopal Mishra, President, AIRF, said in a letter to Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma.