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G. Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, April 13

THE Standing Committee on Railways has asked the system to "show some tangible results on physical plane" as its "credibility will be at stake" in view of the fact that its physical performance during the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) under important heads such as new lines, gauge conversion and doubling has not been commensurate with the financial allocations made.

While analysing the demands for grants of the Ministry of Railways (2003-04), the House panel headed by Mr Yerran Naidu in a report tabled in Parliament recently lamented that the share of Plan funding from external sources vis-à-vis internal resources has increased from 24 per cent in 1997-98 to 43 per cent in 2001-02 whereas, the internally generated resources have seen a decreasing trend from 42 per cent to 20 per cent during this period.

A candid fact is that all the five annual plans under the Ninth Plan had to be cut short at the revised stage primarily due to lower materialisation of internal resources, it said. It further noted that the Railways has not been able to achieve physical performance even when the share of funding the Plan from the general exchequer has increased to the level of 57.42 per cent in 2003-04. Hence, the committee said that it couldn't help but desire that "the Ministry of Railways must not spare any stone unturned to save their credibility as far as their performance is concerned".

While stating that all ongoing projects must be completed in a time-bound fashion as in the case of Konkan Railway, the committee stressed that "paltry/token allocation of funds to projects be discouraged".

It further noted there was a steady decline in contribution of internal resources to the annual plan expenditure resulting in increased reliance on market borrowings. As the 200304 Rail Budget has announced several measures to raise additional resources, the Ministry should take some steps to restore the revenue-generating potential of freight business and make further efforts to enhance freight business. Simultaneously, it should also reduce the losses incurred in passenger business. It cautioned the Railways against excessive borrowing through the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) to meet the growing demand for investment in rolling stock, maintenance of plant machinery and replacement of overage assets. Instead, it should make all-out efforts to enhance internal generation of funds through prioritisation of projects and by completing near-completion/last mile projects so that it starts getting returns and reduce its dependence on costly market borrowings.

Commenting on the formation of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd with a non-budgetary provision of Rs 15,000 crore to bolster the Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals, port connectivity and construction of four mega bridges within a time span of five years, the committee said that it has been informed that an allocation of Rs 730 crore has been proposed during the year 2003-04 to implement the viable projects. "The most important fact about this Nigam is that the debt servicing arising out of it would be met with the incremental revenue generated by these projects", it said adding that while appreciating the visionary initiative on the line of National Highways Authority, the committee said it could not but feel concerned over the debt servicing liabilities which would accrue on this score especially in view of bad experience in the case of Konkan Railway Corporation. Hence, it is of the view that "at all costs only viable projects are taken up under the Nigam which can substantially increase the internal resources of Railways".

It faulted the Railways that "even without any basic preparation, a declaration of Customer Satisfaction Year" has been made hastily in the 2003-4 Rail Budget.

Hence it sought "drastic steps" to bring about "some significant and noticeable difference" in the quality of services in the trains/stations such as (i) provision of phone facilities; (ii) availability of pure drinking water;(iii) clean toilets and (iv) general maintenance and cleanliness in coaches, waiting rooms, platforms and stations, if necessary through "outsourcing".

It desired that the respective General Managers (once in a year) and Divisional/Regional Managers (twice a year) should visit all stations under their jurisdiction to ensure the implementation of the basic amenities to the travelling public.

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