Panel raps rlys for burdening commuters with surcharge

The Railway Ministry’s move to replace the “safety surcharge” on passenger tickets...

The Railway Ministry’s move to replace the “safety surcharge” on passenger tickets with a development charge to generate revenues to fund the Dedicated Freight Corridor has once again raised the hackles of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways.

In its latest report, tabled in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, the standing committee, which had called the move a “deceptive practice” earlier, has come down heavily on the Railway Ministry for converting one surcharge into another, thereby putting indirect burden on the commuters.

The committee has said that it is dismayed to note that surcharge has been replaced with a development charge from April 1 this year, to partly fund the proposed DFCs, “in spite of the committee’s repeated recommendations against such a move”.

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The committee disagreed with ministry’s view that imposition of development surcharge on passenger fares will not result in any change in the existing fares. “Withdrawal of safety surcharge from the passenger fares would have certainly given some relief to passengers. Replacing safety surcharge with development charge has obviously denied this relief,” the report states, asking the ministry to review the move.

As first reported by The Indian Express, Rail Bhawan had decided to subsume the safety surcharge in passenger fares on as is where is basis in the form of a development charge to fund Dedicated Freight Corridor.

Out of the total Rs 17,000 crore allocated for the Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF), Railways had to mobilise Rs 5,000 crore through the levy of a safety surcharge on passenger fares. The SRSF was set up by the Centre in 2001 to wipe out arrears in renewal of over-aged assets like tracks, bridges, signalling gears and rolling stock within a fixed time frame of six years.