[Marxistindia] On Railway Budget

news from the cpi(m) marxistindia at cpim.org
Thu Feb 26 18:35:23 IST 2015


February 26, 2015

 

Press Statement

 

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:

 

On the 2015-16 Railway Budget 

 

The Rail Budget for the year 2015-16 was high on hyperbole but low on
content.  In fact, it has spelt out certain intentions with scarce factual
details to translate these ideas into reality.  During the first three years
of the 12th Five Year Plan, the railways received only Rs. 1.5 lakh crores
for investment. Yet, the Railway Minister bombastically promised that in the
coming five years, this will increase to Rs. 8.56 lakh crores.  

 

Though the Railway Minister asserted that Indian Railways will continue to
remain an asset of the people but the extent to which he wanted to raise
resources for critical infrastructure through the PPP, BOT etc raises
serious questions. The budgetary allocations for extending railways to
backward and far flung areas and greater access for the poorer sections are
totally inadequate.  The railways will henceforth, only, prioritise the
unfinished projects. Thus, its social objectives will remain unaddressed.
The Railway Minister's claim of a reversal of decline with the vision he
spelt out hardly inspires any confidence.  

 

The traffic growth has declined and expenditures outstrip according  to
revised estimates.  There are 4.6 crores less originating passengers.  The
passenger earnings were short by Rs. 968 crores proving earlier fare hikes
to be counterproductive.  Given this, there should not be any euphoria over
passenger fares not being raised.  The gross traffic receipts were Rs. 492
crores as compared to the revised estimates.  The railways success in
generating internal resources for plan finances also falls short.  Most
importantly, the operating ratio was 2.7 per cent less, only on account of
reduction in the international crude oil prices and not due to the railways
internal efficiency improvement. 

 

So far as the future is concerned, the operating ratio outlook  is not
bright.  Promises on improving safety sounds hollow low allocation of Rs.
2200 crores  for the railway safety fund.  The allocation on rolling stocks
has also declined. 

 

Finally, the budget has proposed no further freight hikes as Indian freight
rates remain highest in the world and as a result the railway minister has
also admitted the continuous decline in the share of the railways in freight
traffic. 

 

In sum, this Railway Budget is not going to result in achhe din for the
poor, though the  Railway Minister quoted the PM saying that the railways
will be an instrument  for `eliminating poverty'.  

 

 

 

 
Central Committee
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
A.K. Gopalan Bhawan
27-29, Bhai Vir Singh Marg, Gole Market
New Delhi 110 001
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://cpim.org/pipermail/marxistindia_cpim.org/attachments/20150226/3def7c65/attachment.html>



More information about the Marxistindia mailing list