Mamta presents populous budget, no fare hike

Union Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee Wednesday presented her second consecutive Rail Budget under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announcing to introduce 52 long distance trains, 10 Duranto trains, 16 tourism and pilgrimage trains, and 46 short distance trains comprising 28 passengers, 9 MEMU and 8 DEMU in the fiscal year 2010-11.

Citing her forth budget, Railway Minister has made no hikes in passengers as well as freight fares, even she has announced to cut Rs. 100 per wagon for carrying food-grains for domestic use and kerosene in freight fares.

Mamta has also proposed to introduce 21 special trains for women with the tag name of 'Matrabhumi' to be run in the major cities of Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai along with 4 trains with the same tag name to be run between Delhi-Panipat, Mumbai suburb and Kolkata suburb.

Moreover for facilitating the common people, Banerjee has announced to include three unreserved special trains with the tag name of 'Karmabhoomi Express' while respecting the contribution of the Armed forces personnel, Railway has decided to introduce a special weekly train 'Janmabhoomi Express' between Ahmadabad and Udhampur.

Marking the 150th birth anniversary of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore, Rail Minister Banerjee has announced to begin a special train service entitling 'Sanskriti Express' to be run across the country.

The frequency of 12 trains has been increased while the distance of 21 trains has been elongated.

For meeting the requirements of all the proposed scheme, Mamta has estimated the total budget outlay of whooping Rs. 41,426-crore, the highest ever proposal for the fiscal year 2010-11. To implement the plan, Indian railway will get the Gross Budgetary Support of Rs.15,875 crore, Diesel Cess of Rs. 877 crore, internal resources of Rs. 14,523 crore and Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) of Rs. 10,151 crore including market borrowing through Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) of Rs. 9,120 crore.

Mamta has presented a net profit of Rs.1,328 crore in 2009-10 while on social service obligation that include suburban and non-suburban services, parcel and luggage, concession on quota and others, Indian Railways is expected to suffer a loss of Rs 13,675 crore loss in the current fiscal year. The railway has incurred the loss Rs 104 crore on essential commodities carried below cost of operation.

For facilitating the women in terms of secure travelling, minister has announced a security squad of 12 companies of women RPF personnel with the title name of 'Mahila Vahini' to be included with the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF). Moreover, women students will get the 100% concession in fee for railway examination and priority will be given to those belonging to minorities, SC/ST, OBC and economically backward classes.

Here are the highlights of the budget:

• Mamta came up with a 10 year plan called 'Vision 2020' with short, medium- and long-term goals
• Rs.41,426 crore outlay proposed, allocation for new lines increased to Rs.2,848 crore from Rs.4,411 crore
• More money to improve passenger amenities – Rs.1,302 crore in comparision to Rs.923 crore in 2009-10
• Net profit of Rs.1,328 crore in 2009-10
• Revenue from non-core business of Railways to go up from Rs 150 crore to Rs 1,000 crore
• Double-decker coaches to be introduced in two trains each from Delhi and Kolkata
• Special train for Common Wealth Games
• Service charges on e-tickets reduced
• E-ticket vans to be extended to Government Medical College Hospitals, Courts, Universities, IT hubs, IITs and IIMs
• SMS updates of reservation status and movement of wagons
• Ticket centres to be opened at district headquarters and village panchayats
• 100% concession for cancer patients alongwith an escort
• 94 stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations, 10 more stations to be upgraded as World Class Stations
• Modern luggage trolleys with uniformed attendants to assist senior citizens and women passengers
• Six clean bottling plants to provide cheaper, clean drinking water to passengers
• 12 companies of women RPF personnel, ‘Mahila Vahini’, for the security of women passengers
• No examination fee for women, minority and economically backward class candidates for Railway Recruitment Boards’ exams
• Question papers now will be made available in local state languages besides Hindi, Urdu and English, examinations will be held on the same day in all regions
• Automatic fire and smoke detection system to be introduced in 20 trains
• All the unmanned Level Crossings (LCs) to be manned within five years
• Railway revenue through branding/advertising to go up from Rs.150 crore to Rs.1,000
• Special Task Force to clear investment proposals within 100 days
• Kisan Vision Project for manufacturing refrigerated containers
• Allotment of iron ore rakes would be accessible through the web. RFID technology to be introduced for tracking of wagons
• Multi-level parking complexes through PPP route
• 93 new multi-functional complexes to be developed
• National High Speed Rail Authority proposed to plan high speed rail corridor
• Houses for all rail employees in next 10 years
• 522 hospitals, 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 residential schools, model degree colleges, technical and management institutes for railway employees
• Kashmir role link to be extended to Sopore
• 10 automobile ancillary hubs to be created
• Twenty-two million energy saving CFLs for lighting distributed already
• Policy decision to employ one member of family whose land is requisitioned for railway projects
• North-south, east-west dedicated freight corridors to be created
• Construction of high-speed passenger rail corridors envisaged
• Modern toilets at railway stations
• No privatisation; railways will remain with government but with greater participation of business community
• 117 of 120 new trains for current fiscal to be flagged off
• Railways to be lead partner for Commonwealth Games
• Educational facilities to be set up for children of 80,000 women families
• Special facilities to be established for gangmen
• Insurance facilities for licensed porters as part of railway's corporate social responsibility Centre for railway research to be established with IIT-Kharagpur and DRDO
• Integral Coach Factory Chennai to be further modernised
• New wagon repair shop in Mumbai
• Design, development and testing centre for railway wheels at Bangalore
• Construction of more underpasses, besides road overbridges
• Greater coordination with state governments to protect railway property
• Ex-servicemen to be employed in Railway Protection Force
• Five sports academies to be set up; astroturf to be provided for development of hockey; employment opportunities for sports persons