Column : End to end solution

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: “Piggy on the railway line-picking up stones, down came the engine-broke piggy’s bones”; the rhyme ends on a rather rude note, with engine driver saying “I don’t care”! But our Railway ministers, who are “ultimate drivers” of Indian Railways (IR), are never so rude. Being elected leaders, they value “votes” and the “Rail Budget Platform” to make vote-catching announcements. They enjoy the exclusive media opportunity to be on radio, television and internet on the budget day and in newspapers the following day. With such high visibility of IR, strongest alliance partner in the government always corners the Railway Ministry and this government is no exception, with TMC carrying the lantern to flag off the polls in West Bengal.

This year’s rail budget did not lower any passenger fares or freight rates, but introduced a new scheme named

“Izzat” for low income monthly travellers. The minister announced extension of Kolkata Metro routes, upgrading of Railway hospital in Kolkata, setting up of a new coach factory in West Bengal and a 1,000 MW power plant with NTPC on Bengal-Jharkhand border. The budget had the usual dose of new trains (57), non-stop services (12), extension of few trains, increase in frequency of some and certain welfare schemes for IR employees. But it had very little of strategic development initiatives. The budget only mentioned PPP (Public-Private Partnership) scheme for developing stations, announced mega logistics hubs in Eastern and Western corridors, talked of new policy for private freight terminals and possible leasing of railway land for commercial purposes.

Budget is essentially an exercise of estimating the expenses and investments for a period (generally annual) and a plan for financing of those from expected revenues and capital receipts. This is a routine matter for every business and for each department in the government. It is as important for a small business as it is for a Fortune 500 company. And, Education, Health, Surface Transport, Civil Aviation, Water resources, Rural Development and every other ministry needs it no less than the Railways. Then why have the budget presented in the parliament only for Railways and not for other departments?