Working on strategy to treat 'beemar' railways: Suresh Prabhu
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said he was working on both short-term and long-term measures and following a regime of do's and don'ts as the Railways is passing through "very difficult times".
- Mar 15, 2016,
- Updated Mar 15, 2016 10:13 AM IST
Railways is "beemar' (sick), Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said in Rajya Sabha with an assertion that he is working on a strategy to put the national transporter on track by tackling issues like resource crunch, ageing tracks and increasing investment in infrastructure.
He said he was working on both short-term and long-term measures and following a regime of do's and don'ts as the Railways is passing through "very difficult times".
He said government will put in place a new independent regulatory framework for revising rail fares to help maintain a balance between consumers and Railways, for which a bill will be brought soon in Parliament.
Replying to a debate on Rail Budget in Rajya Sabha, Prabhu said he would also partner with states to make investment in rail infrastructure and 16 states have agreed to partner with railways and some have also signed MoUs.
The Minister also said all states have received more money by way of investments in rail infrastructure in this budget.
"Railways is passing through very difficult times. As some members said that Railways is 'beemar' (sick). It is right that Railways is 'beemar' and there is need to treat it and bring it on track," he said.
Prabhu said Railways has many challenges to grapple with that include lack of resources, ageing tracks and increasing investment in infrastructure.
To revitalise Railways, emphasis is being laid on austerity and saying by reducing administrative expenses, generation of revnue, augmentation of services and optimisation of costs, he said.
The Upper House later passed the appropriation bills and the demands for grants in connection with rail budget for 2016-17, after a long debate that saw participation of a large number of members.
Pushing for investments in railways, the minister compared contribution of railways to GDP in India with that of China and Japan and said it was "very low" here despite its large network.
He said while Chinese railway contributed 2 per cent in the country's GDP, Indian railways had only 0.4 per cent contribution in the country's GDP.
"Investing in infratructure is important and finding resources is being done," Prabhu said, adding that "PPP is an idea not only run by Government of India but all states including West Bengal and Kerala".
Referring to certain apprehensions raised by members on success of PPP mode, the Minister said even in states of Kerala and West Bengal stress was laid on this model.
"But, we have to learn and unlearn from it. We must learn from success stories and unlearn from the failures," he said, adding that there was need to focus on PPP model as normal revenue cannot finance the investments and the future lies in creation of infrastructure.
"We are investing in future. Our debt is only 7.9 per cent of the gross traffic. There are Rs 85,000 crore liabilities," he said.
Prabhu said various states have received much more than what they did in 2013-14 and even last year, adding that in some states there has been an increase of manifold times and gave figures of various states.
The Minister also said the broad guage track laying is today at 7 kms per day, against 4.3 kms in the last six years, which will be icnreased to 13 kms per day in 2017-18 and 19 kms in 2018-19.
He added that tenders process has been decentralised and general managers are issuing tenders at their own level thus reducing the 538 days of tendering time to only 83 days now.
Railways is "beemar' (sick), Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said in Rajya Sabha with an assertion that he is working on a strategy to put the national transporter on track by tackling issues like resource crunch, ageing tracks and increasing investment in infrastructure.
He said he was working on both short-term and long-term measures and following a regime of do's and don'ts as the Railways is passing through "very difficult times".
He said government will put in place a new independent regulatory framework for revising rail fares to help maintain a balance between consumers and Railways, for which a bill will be brought soon in Parliament.
Replying to a debate on Rail Budget in Rajya Sabha, Prabhu said he would also partner with states to make investment in rail infrastructure and 16 states have agreed to partner with railways and some have also signed MoUs.
The Minister also said all states have received more money by way of investments in rail infrastructure in this budget.
"Railways is passing through very difficult times. As some members said that Railways is 'beemar' (sick). It is right that Railways is 'beemar' and there is need to treat it and bring it on track," he said.
Prabhu said Railways has many challenges to grapple with that include lack of resources, ageing tracks and increasing investment in infrastructure.
To revitalise Railways, emphasis is being laid on austerity and saying by reducing administrative expenses, generation of revnue, augmentation of services and optimisation of costs, he said.
The Upper House later passed the appropriation bills and the demands for grants in connection with rail budget for 2016-17, after a long debate that saw participation of a large number of members.
Pushing for investments in railways, the minister compared contribution of railways to GDP in India with that of China and Japan and said it was "very low" here despite its large network.
He said while Chinese railway contributed 2 per cent in the country's GDP, Indian railways had only 0.4 per cent contribution in the country's GDP.
"Investing in infratructure is important and finding resources is being done," Prabhu said, adding that "PPP is an idea not only run by Government of India but all states including West Bengal and Kerala".
Referring to certain apprehensions raised by members on success of PPP mode, the Minister said even in states of Kerala and West Bengal stress was laid on this model.
"But, we have to learn and unlearn from it. We must learn from success stories and unlearn from the failures," he said, adding that there was need to focus on PPP model as normal revenue cannot finance the investments and the future lies in creation of infrastructure.
"We are investing in future. Our debt is only 7.9 per cent of the gross traffic. There are Rs 85,000 crore liabilities," he said.
Prabhu said various states have received much more than what they did in 2013-14 and even last year, adding that in some states there has been an increase of manifold times and gave figures of various states.
The Minister also said the broad guage track laying is today at 7 kms per day, against 4.3 kms in the last six years, which will be icnreased to 13 kms per day in 2017-18 and 19 kms in 2018-19.
He added that tenders process has been decentralised and general managers are issuing tenders at their own level thus reducing the 538 days of tendering time to only 83 days now.