RAILWAY
BUDGET 2010-11
There will be no increase in the
passenger fares of any class or category of trains. Freight tariffs will also remain the same for
2010-11. Service charges for e-tickets
and freight charges for food-grains will be reduced. This was announced by the
Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee in Parliament today while
presenting Railway Budget for the new financial year.
Kumari Mamata Banerjee has proposed Rs.41,426 crore, the highest ever plan
investment to provide efficient, customer focused and modern railway
network. Out of this allocation,
Rs.4,411 crore have been proposed to achieve the target of 1,000 kms. for new
lines and Rs.1,302 crore for
passenger amenities. The Plan would be
financed through gross budgetary support of Rs.15,875 crore, Diesel Cess of Rs.877 crore, internal resources of
Rs,14,523 crore and EBR of Rs.10,151 crore including market borrowing through
IRFC of Rs.9,120 crore.
Presenting the Railway Budget for
2010-11 in Parliament today, the Minister said that the Railway is committed to
take up socially desirably projects connecting backward areas of the
country. Surveys for 114 projects for
such areas will be updated and surveys for 55 new lines will be taken up during
the year. She said that 800 km. Gauge
Conversion and 700 km of doubling the rail line will be achieved during the
year besides a number of new projects on cost sharing with state governments or
through PPP route. She also proposed 52
new train services to meet increasing demand of passengers, increase in
frequency of 12 train services, extension of 21 trains and introduction of some
special trains.
Reiterating the Government’s
commitment to provide efficient railway network within the reach of common man,
Kumari Mamata Banerjee said that the target has been set to add 25,000 km of
new lines in next 10 years. A Special
Task Force to clear proposals for investments within 100 days will be set up,
policy guidelines will be made easy, simple and investment friendly so that
business community can join hands to build partnership with the Railways. But the Minister clarified that this does
not mean that Railway is going for privatization, it will remain a Government
organization, she asserted.
Highlighting the initiatives taken
recently, Railway Minister said that within a span of 7 months, significant
achievements have been made. She
announced that out of 120 new trains, extensions and increase in frequencies
announced in last budget, 117 would
be flagged off by the end of 2010.
Special drive for improving passenger amenities and cleanliness has been
taken up. The Catering Policy is under
revision to provide better food, six
bottling plants to be set up to provide clean drinking water. 94 new stations will be developed as Adarsh Stations and 10 more stations
will be upgraded as World Class Stations. She also announced construction of another 93
Multi-functional Complexes and to develop multi-level parking complex through
PPP route.
Declaring that passenger amenities
is a very high priority of the Government, she said that a number of
initiatives are being taken for this purpose.
SMS updates of reservation status and movements of wagons to freight
customers is being initiated. Double-decker train-sets matching the
best in global standards will be introduced in two trains each from Delhi and Kolkata as a pilot
project. Modern trolleys at all important stations with uniformed attendants
will be introduced to assist senior citizens and women passengers for carrying
their luggage. Mobile vans for issuing
e-tickets will be extended to government medical college hospitals, High
Courts, District Court, University campus, IT hubs, IITs and IIMs. The Railway Minister announced that railway
reservation ticket centres will also be opened at district headquarters and village panchayats to give more facility
to common man.
In order to bring more transparency
in freight business, the Railway Minister announced RFID technology will be
introduced for tracking of wagons, allotment of the rakes would be accessible
through the web.
Highlighting efforts being made for
safety and security of the passenger, Kumari Mamata Banerjee said that the
railway is developing crashworthy coaches and locomotives and will provide
automatic fire and smoke detection system in 20 pairs of long-distance trains
as pilot project. Manning of further
1,000 level crossing will be taken up during the budget year. She announced that in coming five years, all the unmanned level crossing will be
manned. 12 companies of women RPF,
‘Mahila Vahini’ will be raised for security of women passengers.
The Railway Minister said that as
assured, recruitment policy of Railway Recruitment Boards has been
reviewed. Now onwards, question papers will be made available in local state languages also besides
Hindi, Urdu and English, examination will be held simultaneously by all RRBs
for a particular post. She also
announced waiving of examination fee
for women candidates and those belonging to minority and economically backward
classes.
Reiterating her commitment for the
welfare of railway employees, she said that a new scheme “House for All” will provide residence to all railway employees in
the next 10 years with the help of Ministry of Urban Development. 522 hospitals and diagnostic centres, 50
Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 residential schools on the pattern of Navodaya
Vidyalaya, model degree colleges and technical and management institutions of
national importance will be set up for the benefit of railway employees. She
also proposed extension of ‘Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana’ to all
licenced porters, vendors and hawkers.
She also proposed setting up a Railway Cultural and Heritage Promotion
Board and Shambhu Mitra Cultural Complex at Howrah for the employee. Rabindra Museum at Howrah and Gitanjali Museum at Bolpur are also proposed to mark
the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, she said.
In order to upgrade railway
infrastructure, the Minister said that a centre for Railway Research will be
set up at IIT, Kharagpur for research in key areas of railway technology and a
state-of-the art advanced loco pilot training centre at Kharagpur and an
advanced railway track training centre at Beleghata. To overcome of the shortage of coaches, new
coach factories are being set up at Rae Bareilly, Kancharapara and
Palakkad. A wagon repair shop will be
set up at Badnera and a new Rail Axle Factory will be set up at New Jalpaiguri
through PPP or Joint Venture mode.
Besides 5 state-of-the-art wagon factories also through joint venture
and PPP mode at Sikandrabad, Barddhaman, Bhubneshwar/Kalahandi, Guwahati and
Haldia.
Kumari Mamata Bangerjee also
announced ‘Kisan Vision Project’ for
manufacturing refrigerated container for carrying agricultural products so that
farmers are not forced for distress sale of their produce.
Proposing several new initiatives for freight business,
the Minister said that Railways will introduce a modified wagon investment
scheme for high capacity general purpose and special purpose wagons for
carrying iron ore, coal and cement. A
scheme to run special freight train by private operators for commodities such
as automobiles, vegetable oil, molasses, chemicals and petrochemicals will be
notified. A premium
Tatkal Service for parcel and freight movement besides special wagons
for iron ore, fly ash, automobiles will also be introduced.
Reiterating Railways’ commitment for
time bound completion of dedicated corridors, the Minister said preliminary
Engineering-cum-Traffic Surveys for North-South, East-West, East-South and
South-South corridors will be taken up this year. She also said that Railways
is also working on high speed passenger rail corridors, a National High Speed Rail Authority will be set up for planning,
standard setting and implementing these projects.
In order to promote industrial
activity, Kumari Mamata Banerjee said that Railways would welcome investment
through PPP mode for providing rail connectivity to important ports. Additional 2,000 kms. routes will be electrified
within two years. Work on adding another
12,000 kms. in existing Optical Fibre
Cable network of the Railways is in progress.
The balance 15,000 kms. is proposed to be taken through PPP mode, thus
covering entire railway network.
Announcing upgradation and
modernization of Kolkata Metro, the only Metro with Indian Railways, the
Minister said that Metro Station at Park Circus, Maidan, M.G. Road, Chandni Chowk and Rash Behari will
be remodeled and network will be extended at four sections. The Railway Minister also announced
augmentation of sub-urban train services in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Kumari Mamata Banerjee proposed
special trains – Sanskriti Express,
across the country, to mark 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath
Tagore, Matribhoomi Express trains
for ladies in Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai and Karmabhoomi trains, unreserved trains for common people between
Darbhanga-Mumbai, Guwahati-Mumbai and New Jalpaiguri-Amritsar. Similarly, Janmabhoomi Trains specially for uniformed persons, between
Ahmedabad and Udhampur, Bharat Tirth
Trains for tourists connecting popular sites in different parts of the
country will be introduced during the year.
The Railway Minister also proposed
four new Durontos trains between Chandigarh and Amritsar, between Chennai and Coimbatore, between Puri and Howrah and between Howrah and Digha.
To reiterate her commitment for the
common man, Kumari Mamata Banerjee announced that there will be no increase in passenger fares of any
class and in freight tariffs. In spite
of tight resource position, the Railways has also proposed to reduce an amount
of Rs.100 per wagon in freight charges for food-grains and domestic use of
kerosene as a gesture to common man.
The Minister also announced reduction of service charges maximum to
Rs.10 for Sleeper Class and Rs.20 for AC Class.
She also announced 100 per cent concession for cancer patients going for
treatment together with an escort in AC 3 class. Technicians of regional film industry when
traveling for film production related work will also be eligible for 75%
concession in second sleeper and 50% concession on other classes in all
trains. The Minister also announced that
concession under Izzat scheme, for press correspondents and students of
madrasas will continue.
***
MKP/NCJ/MK