There is a new chief at Rail Bhavan, occupying the chair of minister for railways vacated by Mamata Banerjee, who has already taken charge at Writer?s Building, Kolkata.
Born in Kanchrapara, West Bengal, in 1954, Mukul Roy was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2006, appointed as a permanent special invitee to the consultative committee for the ministry of railways and from May 2009 been minister of state in the shipping ministry before moving over to the railway ministry as minister of state, but under overall charge of the Prime Minister.
He is a political and social worker, been a staunch supporter of Banerjee and someone she can trust to carry forward her policies and, most importantly, the scores of new projects she has sanctioned for West Bengal before signing off as railway minister.
At last count, there were about 20 projects in West Bengal, big and small, which Mamata would like to see completed in double quick time to establish her credibility as someone who delivers on her promises. Costing over R430 crore, she would very much like to keep a close watch on the progress, and there is no better way than to get one of the trusted members of her team to pursue them in the railway ministry.
The years 1986 to 1989 too saw a minister of state, Madhavrao Scindia, occupying the corner room on the second floor of Rail Bhavan. This was the Rajiv Gandhi era, when young and dynamic ministers occupied key portfolios, and being a mere minister of state did not stop Scindia from making some trailblazing moves.
It was a watershed period for the Indian Railways for it chalked up some of the most significant and successful inputs for this organisation that employs 1.4 lakh people, and boasts of a world-class computerised reservation system that delivers at the click of a mouse almost a million tickets every day from its 8,200 terminals at nearly 2,300 locations on Indian Railways? 64,000 km network around India.
Scores of superfast inter-city trains called Shatabdis made their debut connecting major metros, reaching city centres reliably and at a fraction of the cost of airlines. From the day one, Scindia set about getting to know the ropes. Soon he had got his bearings, came to know the strengths and weaknesses of this vast organisation and then set about being a superb, visionary and a highly pragmatic CEO of this behemoth.
Roy may not reach the benchmarks set by Scindia, but certainly would not like to let Banerjee down. His priority would undoubtedly be in leaving no stone unturned to get the projects in West Bengal off to a good start and, far more important, record a speedy completion.
With an eye on the West Bengal chief minister?s chair, Banerjee had as early as 2009 ordered the 1,230-km-long eastern leg of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) from Ludhiana in Punjab to Son Nagar in Bihar to be extended beyond, by another 576 km, to reach Dankuni in West Bengal, where she wants to set up a new electric loco facility.
Plans for a new coach factory at Singur are also on the cards. It was initially proposed by the erstwhile CPI(M) government in West Bengal, which had formulated the plan for the plant if and when it got back the land from the aborted Tatar Motors initiative.
A diesel multiple unit plant, a depot as a joint venture (JV) or a public-private partnership (PPP), a factory at Sankrail and a centre for excellence in wagon prototyping at the Kharagpur workshop of South Eastern Railway were among other projects Banerjee announced in the last Rail Budget speech.
One of the major projects will be a brand new railway axle factory at New Jalpaiguri, again through the JV/PP route, for which Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd has been shortlisted. Negotiations are at an advanced stage, with land being made available by the railways . A heavy axle load wagon POH (periodic overhaul) facility for the eastern leg of the DFC at Dankuni and a coach mid-life rehabilitation workshop at Anara in Adra Division of South Eastern Railway are some of the other initiatives promised by Banerjee for the people of West Bengal to generate new jobs.
A little worrisome for wagon builders ? a large number of them are based in Bengal ? could be Banerjee?s proposal to set up no less than five state-of-the-art new wagon manufacturing facilities in Secunderabad, Burdwan, Kalahandi, Guwahati and Haldia, two of which will undoubtedly bring cheer to West Bengal.
However, with the present funds constraints and not much hope of any increase in passenger rail tariff in the near future, Roy would have a hard task ahead to get all these projects off the ground, leave alone complete them in the foreseeable future.
Unless, of course, the finance minister steps in with a massive one-time grant for infrastructure projects in West Bengal, which could also cov er those proposed by Mamata when she was railway minister, and would now reap the benefits as chief minister.
Reportedly, the Prime Minister is likely to keep a very close watch on all major investment decisions of over R100 crore. While mega projects such as the R77,000-crore DFC ? which in any case will be funded largely by the Japan International Cooperation Agency ? would sail through, other projects specific to West Bengal may undergo some close scrutiny by the Prime Minister?s Office.
The writer is former member (mechanical), Railway Board.
acharya@bol.net.in