Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday presented Rail Budget for the next fiscal with the promise of a new business model to encourage private investment along with social commitment but without privatisation.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday presented Rail Budget for the next fiscal with the promise of a new business model to encourage private investment along with social commitment but without privatisation.
"Our objective is inclusive growth," she told the Lok Sabha, lower house of parliament, adding that her main consideration in this year's budget was social responsibility rather than mere commercial viability of projects.
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"We have set our goals in the Vision 2020 document and we will achieve it," the minister said, referring to the document unveiled in December that has targeted making over 30,000 km of routes into double or multiple lines against 18,000 km today.
"It is a fact that administrative and procedural delays discourage potential investors. We will need to overcome this. I am setting up a special task force for this," she said.
"Special structure will be created for the new business model," she said. "But we will not privatise our railways. Indian Railways will remain with the government."
At the same time, she also asked the private sector to refrain from what she called "typical negative approach" while dealing with the Indian Railways. "I am sorry to say this, this mindset has to change."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee were among those in the house, presided over by Speaker Meira Kumar.
This was Banerjee's fourth budget of her career as railway minister and the second for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its second straight term after being voted back to office in May last year.
According to Banerjee, 117 out of the 122 new trains promised in her last budget will be flagged off by March 31, within a matter of seven months, which was a commendable effort.
Seeking to give safety issues due consideration, the minister said there were a few cases of unfortunate accidents in the past and said these would be prevented by adopting the highest level of technology and manpower training.
"Within five years, we will have 13,000 out of unmanned level crossings manned - 3,000 this fiscal and 1,000 in the coming fiscal," she said, referring to the high number of accidents at such crossroads.
The budget came against the backdrop of the share of Indian Railways in the movement of goods, vis a vis truckers, falling from 24.07 per cent in 2001-02 to 20.89 per cent in 2008-09 and further to 19.32 per cent in the first 10 months of this fiscal.
Indian Railways runs the world's second largest network under a single management with a network of 64,099 route km to ferry 18.9 million passengers on 7,000 trains daily from 6,906 stations. It also runs 4,000 freight trains to carry 850 million tonnes of cargo.
Some of the highlights of her budget include:
* No increase in passenger fares
* Rs 100 reduction in freight per wagon for fertilisers and kerosene
* Free travel for cancer patients in 3rd AC classes
* Cost-sharing in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode in some gauge-conversion projects
* Further extension of Kolkata Metro on priority basis; stations to be named after Bahadur Shah Zafar,
u00a0u00a0 Tagore family
* Karmabhoomi trains to be introduced for migrant labour
* New Janmabhoomi train between Ahmedabad and Udhampur
* Special "Bharat Teertha" train to be run around India to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore's 150th
u00a0u00a0 birth anniversary
* Railway line to be extended from Bilaspur in Himachal to Leh in J&K
* Andaman and Nicobar Islands to get railway line from Port Blair to Diglipur* Sikkim capital Gangtok to
u00a0u00a0 be connected by rail from Rangpo
* 2011 being 150th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, special train to be run from West Bengal to
u00a0u00a0 Bangladesh
* Impact of Sixth Pay Commission recommendations placed at Rs 55,000 cr
* Gross earnings in 2009-10 estimated at Rs 88,281 cr
* Working expenditure in 2009-10 estimated at Rs 83,440 cr
* Expenses during 2010-11 estimated at Rs 87,100 cr
* Thrust on expansion in 2010-11 with allocation of Rs 4,411 cr
* Kashmir rail link to be extended to Sopore in the north of the valley
* Net profit of Rs.1,328 crore in 2009-10
* 10 automobile ancillary hubs to be created
* Twenty-two million energy saving CFLs for lighting distributed already
* Policy decision to employ one member of family whose land is requisitioned for railway projects
* North-south, east-west dedicated freight corridors to be created
* Construction of high-speed passenger rail corridors envisaged
* More multi-functional hospitals to be set up
* Educational facilities to be set up for children of 80,000 women families
* Special facilities to be established for gangmen
* Insurance facilities for licensed porters as part of railway's corporate social responsibility
* Centre for railway research to be established with Indian Institutes of Technology and Defence
u00a0u00a0 Research and Development Organisation
* Will involve unions in policy making
* Integral Coach Factory Chennai to be further modernised
* New wagon repair shop in Mumbai
* Design, development and testing centre for railway wheels at Bangalore
* Within five years, all unmanned level crossings to be manned
* Construction of more underpasses, besides road overbridges
* Greater coordination with state governments to protect railway property
* Security of women passengers to be improved
* Ex-servicemen to be employed in Railway Protection Force
* Five sports academies to be set up; astroturf to be provided for development of hockey;
u00a0u00a0 employment opportunities for sports persons
* Railways to be lead partner for Commonwealth Games
* Special drive to increase passenger amenities
* Upgradation of 94 stations
* Six new drinking water bottling plants in PPP mode
* Modern toilets at railway stations
* More ticketing centres to help the public
* Acquisition of cutting edge safety technology
* 1,000 route km to be created
* Special task force for clearing investment proposals in 100 days
* New business model to be created
* No privatisation; railways will remain with government but with greater participation of business
u00a0u00a0 community
* 117 of 120 new trains for current fiscal to be flagged off
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