The Indian Railways for
the last few years have been running at a loss. The only way that Railways can
survive is when users pay for the facilities that they avail. The passenger
services have been subsidized by the freight traffic. In recent years even freight
fares have come under pressure.
On 5th February,2014
when the UPA was in power, it was the Railway Board which proposed a 5%
increase in the freight rates and a 10% increase in the passenger fares. The
proposal was to rationalize the freight rates with effect from 1st April,2014
and the passenger fares with effect from 1st May,2014. Even as the Interim
Budget of the Railways was yet to come, the date 1st May,2014 was chosen hoping
that the General Elections would be over by that day. The Railways had proposed
that this increase would give the Railways an additional revenue of Rs.7900
crores. Armed with this decision, the then Railway Minister Shri Mallikarjuna
Kharge met the then Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh on 11th February,2014.
The then Prime Minister approved the hike and suggested that both freight and
passenger fare should be implemented with effect from 1st May,2014 itself.
The Railway Board
accordingly notified this increase on 16th May,2014 when the Election results
were being declared. This decision gave effect to what the Railway Board, the
Rail Minister and the then Prime Minister had concurred. The Railway Minister
developed cold feet and in the evening of 16th May,2014, even after the UPA had
been defeated in the Elections, he countermanded the order of the Railway Board
so that theoretically the decision taken by him and the then Prime Minister is
implemented by the Railway Minister of the NDA Government.
By withdrawing the
countermanding order, the present Railway Minister, D.S. Sadananda Gowda has
taken a challenging decision. The choice before Shri Gowda was whether to allow
the Railways to bleed and eventually walk into a debt trap by following the
policy of the UPA Government or implement the decision which the UPA Government
had taken to increase the fares for both passenger and freight but did not have
the courage to implement . A loss making railway will provide below-par
services. It will eventually not even have the resources to pay its’ bill.
India must decide whether it wants a world class Railway or a ramshackled one.
The Railway minister has taken a difficult but a correct decision.
Courtesy : Hon. Minister Arun Jaitley's Official Fb Page
