Mamata's Rly budget likely to pamper W Bengal

Mamata's Rly budget likely to pamper W Bengal
BHAVNA VIJ

NEW DELHI, FEB 15: As far as budgets go, this one does not leave any room for surprises. From all indications, the railway budget of India for 2000-2001, will focus on -- no prize for guessing it right -- the state of West Bengal.

With Assembly elections in the state round the corner, sources said that innovative ways are being introduced in the railway budget to pamper West Bengal.

The Railways have thought of a new way to hoodwink the country's planners. New trains, new railway lines and new projects apart, the concept of ``material modification'' is being introduced in the budget.

According to sources, there were going to be at least half a dozen more trains to West Bengal and several new projects, including gauge conversions, for the state. In fact, the railways today officially announced classification of three Express trains -- two of them for West Bengal -- as Superfast from April 1 this year. These are Mumbai-Howrah Mail, Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express and Secunderabad-Varanasi Express. Generally these kind of announcements are not made with just 10 days to go for the budget, sources said.

``More than 50 per cent of the new projects and works announced in the budget are going to be bagged by West Bengal. Ministers of State Digvijay Singh and O. Rajagopal are also trying to get special benefits for their states, Bihar and Kerala, respectively. They may or may not get it but Mamata will definitely get what she wants,'' disclosed an official associated with the budget preparations.

Explaining the method by which Mamata was trying to bypass seeking approval, he said material modification was nothing but a brand new project, touted as a modified old project. For mere modification, the Railways does not have to seek the clearance of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) or the Expanded Board which includes members of the planning commission and ministry of finance.

For all projects costing over Rs 50 crore, Railways has to go to CCEA and the Expanded board. The project is cleared only after they are convinced that the project would yield a positive Rate of Return (RoR). ``Earlier, there used to be a limit (of about 30 per cent of the original cost) to which a project could be modified but now there is nothing. Even RoR has also been given a go-by,'' he added.

According to sources, there are going to be several ``material modifications''in West Bengal projects. For example, the sanctioned line from Dum Dum to Tollygunge was ``materially modified'' to extend up to Garia. Similarly, efforts were being made to ``modify'' the line from Dum Dum station to Dum Dum airport to extend it beyond. ``Technically, they should be treated as new projects and approval sought for them,'' the official said.

That there is going to be no hike in passenger fares is almost a foregone conclusion and Railway officials hope that freight charges will not be increased either.

The Finance Department of the Railways has expressed serious concern over the practice of cross-subsidisation of passenger fares by increasing the freight. ``Freight is what earns money for the railways and if they increase freight yet again, the railways will lose more of its traffic to road. As it is, percentage of freight carried by the railways has dwindled to about 30. It has been declining steadily since 1950s when it used to be nearly 90 per cent. If these populist measures continue, there is no saving the Railways. No Rakesh Mohan or Sam Pitroda can help,'' said an angry official.