Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee’s rail budget on Friday received mixed response from India Inc, which hailed announcements on PPP projects but expressed disappointment at not enough being done for safety and hygiene.

Industry body Ficci said it is encouraged by the announcements of expansion of public-private-partnership (PPP) projects in manufacturing and fructification of public sector undertakings.

“These will give a fillip to and saving resources of the railways for more strategic uses,” it said.

Ficci said that for the first time the focus of the budget has been towards the development of Jammu and Kashmir and North-East region.

“This will go a long way towards regeneration of these areas that have been among the most excluded regions of the nation hitherto,” the chamber said.

However, Assocham said “authorities should do more in future to improve safety and hygiene for the passengers”.

It said that in the rail budget, there is no clarity on how resources will be mobilised for network expansion and building new coach and locomotive factories.

Assocham said that more attention has been paid towards welfare aspects covering larger sections of the society rather than improving efficiency levels.

“The railway budget in nutshell has much less to offer to the business sector as its focus is more on welfare of the public and employees,” Assocham President Dilip Modi said.