Saturday, December 1, 2012


Indian Railways needs Rs 1,47k crore to finish projects: Pawan Bansal

   
Railways has failed to manage funds for completing its long list of pending projects, admitted rail minister Pawan Bansal.
NEW DELHI: Railways has failed to manage funds for completing its long list of pending projects, admitted rail minister Pawan Bansal on Friday.


Faced with acute financial stress, the minister announced that projects which are 50% complete will be taken up on a priority basis and also urged state governments to share the cost.

Bansal was candid in admitting that railways had been making new announcements in response to demands of members, and was staring at a "humongous" financial commitment.

The minister disclosed that the state-run transporter needs Rs 147,187 crore for completing 347 pending projects relating only to laying of new tracks, gauge conversion and doubling of tracks.

Expressing helplessness to fund these projects, Bansal informed the Rajya Sabha that in the past railways could manage only Rs 5,000 crore annually for implementing all its projects.

"Railways is one department where we have been making various announcements for new projects in response to vociferous demands raised by MPs. That has landed us in a situation where there is a humongous throw-forward of projects, both in physical terms and financial terms," he said. Bansal argued that the due to large number of projects the financial spread has been thin which is resulting in difficulty to finish work in time.

The minister defended rail officials arguing that the allegations of time and cost overruns in finishing projects were technically incorrect as work was being carried out in accordance with the money sanctioned. Failing to generate resources, he urged state governments to share land cost and 50% of the sum spent on construction to help the transporter to expedite its pending projects.

"The state governments are requested, from time to time, for sharing the cost of the projects, which they consider essential, but which we consider to be non-remunerative," Bansal said, adding that he has written several letters to CMs.

He outlined that steps have been taken to generate additional budgetary resources through state participation, public-private partnership, defence funding, declaring some ventures as national projects and implementation of bankable projects via Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).


Related Posts:

  • Mumbai bullet train ride to cost Rs 2,800 The proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed corridor is estimated to cost Rs 98,805 crore, according to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)'s final feasibility report submitted to railways.The ambitious bullet train p… Read More
  • Suburban railways have lost Rs 4,150cr in last 6 years Mumbai's suburban railway system is deep in the red. Cumulative losses over the last six years have touched Rs 4,150 crore, and losses for the year 2013-14 alone amounted to Rs 1,112 crore. The situation has sparked fears th… Read More
  • Rail accidents claimed 25,006 lives in '14: NCRB Over 25,000 people died and 3,882 were injured in railway accidents in 2014, a government report has said.The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report said 28,360 cases of `railway accidents' were reported during the year… Read More
  • Local derails near Kalyan, services hit suburban train coach A derailed on the slow line between Kalyan and Thakurli stations on Sunday, delaying CR services by 10-15 minutes. Slow trains from Dombivli to Kalyan were diverted to another track.The derailment couple… Read More
  • Auto train braking system for Churchgate, CST in a week Automatic braking for local trains will be introduced in a week to avert mishaps at termini like Churchgate and CST, Western Railway general manager S K Sood told TOI on Monday .If a train enters a terminus at speeds above 3… Read More

0 comments:

Welcome To AILRSA....

Visitors

1116726

Admin Area

Blog Archive

AILRSA 1970 - . Powered by Blogger.

Are You Satisfied with 7th Pay commission ?

Popular Posts

Recent Posts

Text Widget

Followers

-------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------