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With the government making its intentions clear about revising railway fares as and when needed, the need for a separate Rail Tariff Authority (RTA ) is being felt redundant in the national transporter.
Not only was there any mention of the authority absent in the entire rail budget, the internal process to set up the body has also lost steam. Without patronage, the authority might be reduced to merely a data-crunching body meant to carry out costing exercise for the tariff policy of the railways, sources said.
Announced in the UPA-2’s interim budget that followed a Cabinet nod earlier this year, the process to form the RTA cannot be officially stopped as yet. But the very basis of the idea — safeguarding the financial prudence of the railways from populist political exigencies — is gone now with the NDA government signaling its willingness to “rationalise” the fares as and when required.
Asked about the future of the RTA on Tuesday, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said: “We are examining it.” “If the political masters are willing to revise fares and freight rates as and when needed, there is no need to have an external body to direct us what to do,” said a senior Railway Board official.
As per the existing Act, only railway ministry can set fares and freight for the country’s operations. At present the RTA is supposed to be a semi-advisory body whose recommendations railways would “ordinarily accept”.
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