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| Tuesday, February 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Bulk of new trains for West Bengal, Bengal not favoured: Mamata
Mamata allies too feel neglected Market borrowing not wise: experts Passenger fare may be hiked later
Bulk of new trains for West Bengal, New Delhi, February 26 West Bengal, home state of the Railway Minister, Ms Mamata
Banerjee, received the largest pie of the 26 new trains with as many as seven trains being introduced to the state from various parts of the country. North India, excluding the Capital city of New Delhi, has received four new trains as part of the overall largesse offered in the Railway Budget. The four new trains in the region are: the Asansol-Jhajha-Amritsar Weekly Express, the Jaipur-Ernakulam Weekly Superfast Express, the
Jodhpur-Chennai Weekly Express and the Jodhpur-Hardwar Link Express. In addition, a “
Matribhumi” Express will run between Delhi and Jammu during the peak rush season with only second class and second class sleeper coaches, while the Jodhpur-Jammu Tawi Express has been extended up to
Ahmedabad. In all, seven “Matribhumi” Expresses will run, covering various parts during the peak season, with two of these originating in West Bengal alone. Besides, two new DMU services will introduced between Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur and
Kotkapura-Fazilka. A line survey will be conducted from Ferozepore cantt to the Tarn Taran section, while electrification has been proposed be done in the Sirhind-Nangaldam-Una section. In the case of West Bengal, Ms Banerjee was, perhaps, followed the practice of her predecessors of doling out populist schemes in their respective home states. |
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Bengal not favoured: Mamata New Delhi, February 26 Talking to newspersons after presenting the Railway Budget (2001-2002) in the Lok Sabha, she said, “I have not showered any favours on West Bengal. In fact, if I wanted, I could have given the state some new projects”. “One new train is being started from Howrah to Bangalore. But how could one say that it is a train for Bengal ?” she asked. All those states through which this new train passes would be the beneficiaries, she said. “Under the present circumstances, avoidance of privatisation and hiking the passenger fare was something that should rather be appreciated. This year, in fact, is a difficult year and under the situation I have tried to provide justice for all the states”. Ms Banerjee said before finalising the Budget she had spoken to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik whose Biju Janata Dal is part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance. Whatever he has suggested has been incorporated in this year’s Budget, she added. Similarly, when she talked to Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav on phone, he had asked her if she planned to increase the passenger fares and go in for privatisation. As for the rest, he had said, “Do whatever you like”. This Budget has made the highest allocation of funds for projects in Orissa and Maharashtra, Ms Banerjee
claimed. UNI
Mamata allies too feel neglected New Delhi, February 26 Ms Banerjee’s 75-minute Budget speech was marked by scenes of unprecedented chaos as angry members of the Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal followed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress interrupted her constantly as soon as she came to introduce new trains. The Shiv Sena members were seen protesting even as Ms Banerjee tried in vain to pacify them, saying that she had given the “maximum” to their region. But even as she was trying to tackle the Shiv Sena MPs, the RJD MP, Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, stood up and added to the din, saying that Bihar, despite having a Minister of State of Railways Digvijay Singh in the Council of Ministers, had been ignored. The protest caught on as similar allegations started flowing from many MPs from different states. At this point, regional interests overtook the national perspective which the Railway Minister was trying to stress in her speech. The BJD, unhappy that the government had not taken care of their state Orissa, staged a walkout amidst protests. Ms Banerjee’s repeated appeals and folding of hands trying to tell them, “I have given money for the Marathwada projects” fell on deaf ears as the Shiv Sena MPs continued to accuse the Minister of ignoring the region. Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, tried to control the Congress MPs and for some time they resumed their seats, but the restraint imposed by the leadership broke as the NDA allies tried to steal the limelight. The Congress MPs from Punjab, UP, Rajasthan, Assam, MP and Maharashtra stood up, shouting that their respective regions had been neglected by the Railway Minister. While some of the Members, including Ms Girija Vyas, Ms Santosh Choudhary and Mr Kanti Lal Bhuria, staged a dharna in the Well of the House, others stood in the front between Benches, shouting slogans. Earlier, when Ms Banerjee was telling the House about the Railway’s public sector units and they making profits, the Congress Chief Whip, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, commented, “Now that you have told the government about the PSUs’ profits, they would sell them.” |
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Market borrowing not wise: experts New Delhi, February 26 “The Railway Minister’s move to borrow Rs 4,000 crore from the market is not a sound and wise policy, as it would adversely affect the Railways in the long term,” said Mr N. Venkatesan, former Railway Board member. He said the Railways could have easily mopped up at least Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 crore by increasing the passenger fare marginally. Moreover, the non-increase in passenger fare of all categories would put an additional burden of managing the resources. The passenger cost goes up annually by around 5 per cent and the Railway Minister’s move to freeze the passenger fare would force the organisation to dip into its long-term funds, he said, adding that the move to defer the dividend liability is one such measure. A former Additional Member of the Railway Board, Mr S. P. Singha, said another area of concern was the Railway’s inability to emerge as the most preferred mode of transportation of goods. “The quantum of goods transported by the Railways is now almost same as the quantity of goods transported by road. This should be an issue of concern for the Railways, as transportation by rail is economical and environment-friendly,” he said. The meagre 5 per cent increase in target from the previous year indicates the low priority being given to it, even though freight is one of the largest revenue source to the Railways, he said. Welcoming the Railway Minister’s move to generate revenue from non-traditional sources like land and optic fibre network, Mr Jaiprakash of the Surya Foundation, which had submitted a set of proposals for consideration in the Railway Budget, said, “The Railways should not ignore the traditional revenue sources while adopting innovative measures to generate income.” Mr Govind Ballabh, former Chief Operation Manager, Northern Railways, said the move to actively use the information technology would reduce the cost and bring efficiency. “Over 50 per cent of the Railways’ income is spent on its staff, which is not a good sign for the growth of the organisation,” he said. He said the move to provide online tracking of goods by June in the country would immensely help the industry. Mr Jaiprakash said the Railways was burdened with Rs 5,000 crore by ways of subsidy and other measures which come under the category of social purpose. The Minister is justified in asking the Centre to share the “social” cost burden. The Centre revenue share parted to the Railways has been coming down over the years from 82 per cent to about 35 per cent in the last Budget. The Manmohan Singh Committee had stated that the Railways would require a Rs 200,000 crore investment in the next 15 years to function efficiently and be competitive. Whether this Budget, with its shortcomings, would be moving in that direction to achieve this ambitious target is quite questionable, the experts observed.
Passenger fare may be hiked later New Delhi, February 26 Addressing the customary post-budget press conference, Mr Kumar said the passenger fares might be reviewed “some time in future depending on what course the year takes”. Terming the 3 per cent increase in freight rates as nominal, Mr Kumar said passenger buoyancy was the main source of revenue for the Department of Railways. This would, however, have no impact on inflation, he added. “Passenger earnings have been very boyant during the current fiscal and has already exceeded the budgeted estimates by Rs 300 crore”, Mr Kumar said. The increase in passenger revenue was expected to emanate from the enhancement of the size of trains to 24 coaches and adhering to a strictly laid out summer time table. Regarding the safety, an aspect in which the department had recieved a lot of flak in recent times, Mr Kumar said unless the government provided a grant meeting the arrears of Rs 15,000 crore as recommended by the Khanna Committee might not be met. An amount of Rs 2,719 crore had been earmarked for the present year and the requirements arising out of current occurences. On the issue of non-conventional sources of revenue, Mr Kumar admitted that there had been a slippage in the revenue earned from such sources. To a pointed poser, whether a supplementary budget would be presented after the Assembly elections in West Bengal within a couple of months, the Railway Board Chairman evaded a direct answer and only said: “I am not a fortune teller”. |
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