Yechury asks 'genuine' questions on scrapping of rail budget
September 22, 2016  13:34
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CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury's Facebook post on the government's decision to scrap the railway budget and merge it with the Union Budget:

"The haste with which the presentation of Railway Budget to Parliament has been scrapped raises genuine questions behind its real aim.

"Under the current government, the financial position of the Railways has been precarious as freight (both, volume and revenue) has shrunk. Experts suggest that the operating ratio of the Railways this year would have exceeded 1 (operating ratio is the amount railways spends to earn a rupee), as against 0.92 promised by the minister in his budget. If there is no budget, then this situation will not become public.

"By taking Railways away from public scrutiny through parliament, is the government preparing a ground for its privatisation?

"What is significant is the amount of land that the Railways have in India which real-estate companies have been eyeing for long. Any privatisation by stealth has implications on ownership of Railway land. Scrapping the Rail budget will make that harder to monitor.It could then continue to disregard 95% of its passengers, who travel unreserved even today and need the public service. Instead, the railways will then be solely focused on gimmicky high-speed bullet trains, with no consideration for the social responsibility of the public sector. As with health and education, government has a important role to play in the Railways.

"The proposal of doing away with the Railways Budget is a disaster in the making, and portends damning consequences for India."
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