Patna,(BiharTimes): Allegimg that the Narendra Modi government was taking steps to hand over the railways to corporate houses Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad has strongly opposed the reported move to merge the railway budget with the general  budget from 2017-18.

Lalu, who had served as the railway minister between 2004 and 2009, said railway budget should not be merged with the general budget as the railways can develop only when the separate budget is presented.

Lalu had recently written an open letter to the Prime Minister, accusing the Centre of hiding the loss of revenue in the railways by setting up different committees with focus on cost-cutting and unbundling.

Lalu had said that the railways had been borrowing huge amount of money for projects. He called the decision to run Bullet train suicidal and feared that the privatization of railways would trigger the job loss and retrenchment.