Private woes

The Railway Minister today included little in his budget to justify the statement that private participation will be encouraged.In fact, he ...

The Railway Minister today included little in his budget to justify the statement that private participation will be encouraged.

In fact, he went back on the prevailing spirit of liberalisation when he announced setting up of 12 new plants to manufacture railway sleepers. This is contrary to what various committees on railway reform, including the one headed by Rakesh Mohan, have been recommending. Even the Planning Commission had been in favour of a more reformist budget.

‘‘It is now a recognised fact that the railways need to concentrate on running trains safely, leaving the non-core activities like production units, hospitals etc to the private sector. First, it was the wheel and axle plant in his constituency Chhapra and now these sleeper factories,’’ rued an official in the Finance Department.

The only measure, in terms of privatisation, that Laloo included in the budget was allowing private container companies to operate, ending the monopoly of railways’ Concor. ‘‘This was a small concession he made for all those crying for reforms and privatisation in the railways,’’ disclosed an official.

The Planning Commission wanted the railways to set up a Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority (RTRA) to decide on passenger fares and freight. ‘‘There was no way Laloo would have agreed to that. It would have meant giving up the powers of deciding fares and pleasing the electorate,’’ he added.

Even the Wagon Investment Scheme Laloo announced was nothing but a variation of the existing Own Your Wagon Scheme.

The only proposal that meant business was that if a trader paid 10 pc extra freight, he could get wagons on priority. ‘‘This too was forced since the railways are severely short of wagons,’’ the official added.