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Rail Budget: Trivedi announces marginal hike in passenger fares

NEW DELHI: Presenting a populist budget, Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi today announced marginal hike in passenger fares ranging from 2 paisa per km to 30 paisa per km in various categories of trains despite noting that the Railways was passing through a "difficult phase".

He also announced introduction of 75 express trains, 21 passenger trains and extension of 39 trains besides increase in the frequency of 23 trains.

Platform tickets have also been raised from Rs 3 to Rs 5.

In his first Railway Budget, Trivedi announced increase in passenger fares by 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary Second Class, 3 paise per km for Mail/Express Second Class and 5 per paise per km for Sleeper Class, 10 paise per km for AC Chair Car, AC-3 Tier and First Class.

AC-2 Tier will cost more by 15 paise per km while AC-1 will be dearer by 30 paise per km.

In his over 100-minute speech, Trivedi said these were aimed at rationalising the fares to cause "minimal impact" on the common man and "to keep the burden within tolerance limits in general".

He said he had been counselled to go for steep increase in passenger fares as there had been no increase in last eight years but he desisted from doing so "guided by the overriding concern for aam aadmi (common man)".

The proposed adjustments, he said, did not even cover fully the impact of increase in fuel prices during the last eight years.

"I am keeping the valuable passengers of Indian Railways insulated from the burden of increasing staff cost," he said. — PTI

HIGHLIGHTS

*Minimum fare and platform tickets to cost Rs 5.

*75 mew Express trains to be introduced, along with 21 new passenger services, nine DEMU services and 8 MEMU services trains.

*Route of 39 trains to be extended and frequency of 23 trains to be increased.

*Railways to hire more than one lakh employees in 2012-13; 80,000 persons hired last year.

*Indian Railways Stations Development Corp to be set up to re-develop stations and maintain them like airports.

*To set up an independent Railway Safety Authority as a statutory body.

* The open discharge toilets on trains to be replaced with green (bio) toilets.

*All unmanned level crossings to be abolished in next five years; To target zero deaths due to rail accidents.

*To provide rail connectivity to neighbouring countries, a new line from Agartala to Akura in Bangladesh to be set up.

*Double-decker container trains to be introduced.

*Steps to improve cleanliness and hygiene on trains and stations within six months. A special house keeping body to be set up to take care of both stations and trains.

*New passenger services include escalators at major stations, alternative train accommodation for wait-listed passengers, laundry services, AC lounges, coin/currency operated ticket vending machines.

*Two new members, one for marketing, and other for safety, to be inducted into Railway Board.

*On board passenger displays indicating next halt station and expected arrival time to be introduced.

*Introduction of regional cuisine; Book-a-meal scheme to provide meals through SMS or email.

*Specially designed coaches for differently-abled persons to be provided in each Mail/Express trains.

*Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority to be considered.

*National High Speed Rail Authority to be set-up; Pre-feasibility studies on six high speed corridors completed; study on Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur to be taken up in 2012-13.

*Wellness programme for railway staff at work places.

*Institution of ‘Rail Khel Ratna’ Award for 10 rail sports-persons every year.

*A wagon factory at Sitapali, Odisha, rail coach factory at Palakkad, two additional new coach manufacturing units in Kutch (Gujarat) and Kolar (Karnataka); component factory at Shyamnagar (West Bengal); new coaching terminal at Naihati, the birth place of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

*Freight loading of 1,025 MT targeted; 55 MT more than 2011-12; Passenger growth targeted at 5.4 per cent.

*Passenger earnings to increase to Rs 36,200 crore.

*Gross rail traffic targeted to increase by Rs 28,635 crore to Rs 1,32,552 crore in 2012-13. — PTI

Badal sworn in as Punjab CM

CHAPPAR CHIRI (Punjab): Eighty-five-year-old SAD leader Parkash Singh Badal was today sworn in as Chief Minister of Punjab for a record fifth time along with 17 other Cabinet-rank ministers, including his son Sukhbir, for a second successive term of the SAD-BJP alliance government.

Badal, his son Sukhbir, 50, as Deputy Chief Minister and 16 Cabinet-rank ministers (14 from the SAD and four from the BJP) were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Shivraj V. Patil here, about 25 km from Chandigarh, at a ceremony attended by leaders of various political parties, including the BJP, Trinamool Congress, NCP, JD-U and INLD.

Those present on the occasion included L K Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Vasundhara Raje, Navjot Sidhu (all from the BJP), Mukul Roy, Rachpal Singh, K.D. Singh (Trinamool Congress), Union Minister Praful Patel (NCP), JD-U chief Sharad Yadav and INLD leader Om Parkash Chautala.

The Chief Ministers present were Narendar Modi (Gujarat) and Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh).

The exercise of government formation in the state with a 117-member Assembly, which can have 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister, was completed by Badal in one go.

The SAD-BJP alliance got absolute majority in the Assembly polls winning 68 seats, whereas the Congress got only 46.

Badal senior headed full two five-year terms from 1997 and 2007. His other terms were between 1977-1980 and 1970-71.

Only one woman Bibi Jagir Kaur, former President of SGPC, has been included in the ministry, though eight women of the alliance (SAD-six; BJP-two) were elected.

The Badal family has four members in the Cabinet.

Besides Badal senior and his son, others are Adesh Partap Singh Kairon (son-in-law of Badal senior) and Bikram Singh Majithia (brother-in-law of Sukhbir).

Badal has mostly reposed faith in former ministers as only four first-timers find place in the government. They are Bhagat Chuni Lal and Anil Joshi, both from the BJP, and Surjit Singh Rakhra and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, both from the SAD.

Rakhra had defeated Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh's son Raninder.

Former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal has been named as the Pro Tem Speaker of the newly constituted state Assembly.

The SAD has created a record in the state since 1966 when Punjab was reorganised by becoming the first party ever to retain power in alliance with the BJP with an improved tally of 68 seats against 67 which the two parties secured in 2007. The BJP ended up with 12 legislators as against 19 in the outgoing House.

Besides Badal senior and Sukhbir who were elected from Lambi and Jalalabad seats, respectively, those sworn in were Bhagat Chuni Lal (BJP, Jalandhar West), Sarwan Singh Phillaur (SAD, Kartarpur SC), Adesh Partap Kairon (SAD, Patti), Ajit Singh Kohar (SAD, Shahkot), Gulzar Singh Ranike (SAD, Attari SAD), Madan Mohan Mittal (BJP, Anandpur Sahab), Parminder Singh Dhindsa (SAD, Sunam), Janmeja Singh Sekhon (SAD, Maur), Tota Singh (SAD, Dharamkot), Jagir Kaur (SAD, Bholath), Surjit Kumar Jyani (BJP, Fazilka), Bikram Singh Majithia (SAD, Majitha), Sikander Singh Malooka (SAD, Rampura Phul) Anil Joshi (BJP, Amritsar North), Surjit Singh Rakhra (SAD, Samana) and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon (SAD, Sahnewal).

If it was the sprawling Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium at Mohali in Punjab as the venue for the swearing in of Badal five years back, this time it was Chappar Chiri which has a place in Sikh history where the SAD-BJP government in its previous term had set up a memorial "Fateh Burj" (tower of victory).

Banda Singh Bahadur, one of the most respected warriors in Sikh history, had won the battle against Wazir Khan, who commanded the Mughal army in 1710, at Chappar Chiri in Ajitgarh district, about 25 km from the state capital.

The SAD-BJP alliance has come to power for the second successive term on the agenda of development and peace setting aside its traditional Panthic agenda, according to political observers.

The issues not taken up during the elections included the SAD's demands for the transfer of Chandigarh and of other Punjabi-speaking areas and settlement of river water-sharing disputes, with neighbouring states, including Haryana, besides its demand for a federal structure, including more rights for the states, they said.

Though Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bihar—Mamata Banerjee, J Jayalalitha and Nitish Kumar—had also been invited, they expressed their inability to attend the ceremony citing other pressing engagements. — PTI

Mamata sends minister to Punjab, none to PM's dinner

New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee has sent a three-member delegation led by her close aide and Central Minister Mukul Roy for the Akali Dal-BJP swearing in in Punjab today. To a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister last evening that she pointedly skipped, Ms Banerjee sent no minister, only MP, Ratna De Nag. The ruling Congress is in a spin trying to figure out just what political message its key partner the Trinamool is sending out now.

Banerjee could not make it for the PM's dinner, being seen as the government's effort to rebuild bridges with allies, as she chose to fly to Nagpur instead to attend the wedding of the daughter of the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice JN Patel. Dinesh Trivedi, the Trinamool's one Cabinet rank Minister who presents the Railway Budget in Parliament today, was also not present at his PM's dinner. Amid reports that the UPA is on shaky ground, Mamata Banerjee's open snub has fuelled more speculation that the coalition is now very fragile.

The Trinamool Congress tried to play down Mamata's cold shoulder last night, with Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien tweeting, "Dr Ratna Nag who attended PM dinner is our Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha. She is a lady & in our party we respect all. She's a key member of TMC."