Opinion What Rail Bhavan needs is reformist zeal

The neglect of mass public transport,especially rail transport,is not accidental. One of the toughest jobs in the government of India is that of a railway minister. Given the scale of its operations,size of its assets and number of its employees,the ministry is a mini-government in itself. But it is unable to fulfill its mandate due to paucity of internal resources,organisational inefficiency and lack of a reformist mindset. The railway establishment does not lack talent,but,thanks to its bureaucratic ways,it is too change-resistant to be guided by considerations of customer satisfaction. Take,for instance,cleanliness in the Indian Railways. Nothing has contributed to the organisation’s poor image more than its low sanitary standards. It does not require rocket science to keep railway platforms and toilets clean. Yet,very little has changed over the years. Similarly,most of the beautifully designed railway stations in India were built during the British era. What has been constructed after independence is,barring exceptions,mediocre.

I was therefore happy to see the announcement by Mamata Banerjee in her railway budget on Friday that “Fifty railway stations would be developed as world-class stations with international level passenger amenities through innovative financing and in public private partnership mode.” The adoption of the PPP mode is welcome because the traditional departmental way of implementing modernisation projects can only yield pathetic results.

Imagine what would have happened if the modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports,or the development of greenfield airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad,had been left to the care of the Airports Authority of India. Also,imagine what would have happened to the Delhi Metro if it had been subjected to the usual departmental mode of implementation rather than being given to a separate corporation under a dynamic leader like E. Sreedharan.

Out-of-the-box thinking is also necessary for accomplishing other major tasks before Indian Railways. For example,Banerjee articulated an important national concern when she decried the government’s traditional approach of either abandoning or under-funding many railway expansion projects because they are considered “economically unviable”.

Taking note of the fact that MPs from all parts of the country want new projects,more budget provisions and existing projects to be expedited in their states and constituencies,she asked: “Should railway projects be measured only on the scale of ‘economic viability’ or do we also need to look at their ‘social viability’? Are the fruits of development to be restricted only to a privileged few and not to the teeming populations in remote and backward areas of our country?” She has promised to present a blueprint,based on the recommendations of an experts’ committee,for innovative financing and implementation of the so-called economically unviable but socially desired projects in the coming five years.

Among other things,this obligates the government to vastly increase its Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) to the Indian Railways,much more than what has been provided for in the 11th Five Year Plan. After all,expansion and modernisation of our railway system cannot be the responsibility of Indian Railways alone,to be financed mostly out of its own internal resources. It must be treated as an urgent national mission and funded by the general budget.

Let us not forget how lack of vision and ambition has crippled the growth of the Indian Railways and how,in this as well as in many other development indicators,India is lagging behind China by an alarming margin. For example,China achieved a 24 per cent expansion in new railway tracks since 1992,compared to only 1 per cent by India. India’s railway network in 2007 was 63,300 km and it was planned to be expanded to 65,300 km by 2012. In contrast,China has planned to expand its network from 79,000 km (in 2007) to 1,10,000 km in 2012.

Another major challenge before the railway ministry is expeditious implementation of the High-Speed Dedicated Freight Corridor project connecting the four metros. Speedy freight movement is critical for India’s economic growth. It is also the biggest revenue earner for the railways. However,our present rail network is highly congested,and passenger traffic understandably gets precedence over freight traffic. Result: a goods train takes about six days to travel between Delhi and Mumbai,whereas it can be done in just one day. In a landmark agreement,India and Japan have decided to cooperate in implementing the western dedicated freight corridor,along with development of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC),both entailing huge investments. Sadly,this pathbreaking project,already delayed by several years,is yet to overcome many bureaucratic and inter-governmental hurdles. Will Banerjee fight for its speedy takeoff,and also for the advancement of the rest of the agenda outlined in her budget,with the same zeal that she has displayed in her fight against the communists in Bengal?

sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com