Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s flair for irrational drama in politics has placed a degree of uncertainty over this year’s Railway Budget, the first presented by her colleague Dinesh Trivedi, which otherwise gives sufficient importance to modernisation and safety concerns, and places a moderate burden on passengers.
Passenger fares have not been raised for almost a decade, and yet Ms Banerjee insists that even the small increase proposed must be withdrawn.
The imperatives of economic development should not be allowed to be sacrificed in favour of a naïve understanding of pro-people politics. We hope that the Independent Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority that the minister has proposed to set up to go into freight and fares will provide a realistic picture of aligning rates to market realities.
Mr Trivedi walked a tightrope in trying to balance his new proposals within the funds constraints. He has acknowledged that 487 new railway lines approved in the last budget have remained incomplete due to lack of funds.
His five-point agenda is laudable and is focused on safety, consolidation, decongestion of lines, modernisation, capacity augmentation and reduction of operating ratio through greater efficiency. The minister has largely accepted the recommendations of the Kakodkar Committee on safety and the Sam Pitroda Committee on modernisation and fundraising.
To emphasise promptness in implementation, Mr Trivedi has indicated his preference for the mission mode. Hygiene and housekeeping will also at last receive some attention.
The minister has set up various committees like the Independent Railway Safety Authority and a Railway R&D Council as he quite correctly believes safety would be driven by technology and modernisation. There would also be a separate new organisation called the Indian Railways Station Development Corporation, which would redevelop railway stations on the lines of airports.
Over a hundred stations are to be upgraded in the next five years. We can only hope that the minister does not falter on implementation, provided of course that he is not compelled to resign on his party’s instructions.
Where Mr Trivedi appears to be on weak grounds is in his heavy dependence on funding by the government for the enhancement of our railways. He anticipates funding to the extent of 10 per cent of the government’s total expenditure on infrastructure, and also expects state governments to contribute by way of free land.
The Indian railway system is the world’s second largest and is the lifeline of human and material transportation in the country. To find funds to fix it, Mr Trivedi could have done more to encourage private-public participation in the rail sector, where funds to the tune of Rs14 lakh crores are required in the next five years. But all in all, a forward-looking budget.