The 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate Rail Budget is set to
come to an end from the next fiscal, with the Finance Ministry accepting
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s proposal to merge it with the General
Budget.
According to railways, The Finance Ministry has now constituted a
five-member committee comprising senior officials of the Ministry and
the national transporter to work out the modalities for the merger. The
committee has been asked to submit its report by August 31.
“I had written to Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley
for merger of the Rail Budget with General Budget. This will be in the
Railway’s interest and also in the nation’s interest. We are working out
the modalities,” Prabhu told PTI.
The public sector behemoth has to bear an additional burden of about
Rs 40,000 crore on account of implementation of the 7th Pay Commission
awards, besides an annual outgo of Rs 32,000 crore on subsidies.
Besides, the delay in completion of projects resulted in cost overrun
of Rs 1.07 lakh crore and huge throw-forward of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in
respect of 442 ongoing rail projects.
If the merger happens, Indian Railway will get rid of the annual
dividend it has to pay for gross budgetary support from the government
every year.
According to a senior Railway official, the move to discard the
age-old practice of a separate Rail Budget is part of the Modi
government’s reform agenda.
With the merger, the issue of raising passenger fares, an unpopular decision, will be the Finance Minister’s call.
Prabhu had also told Rajya Sabha on August 9 that he has asked the
Finance Minister to merge the Railway Budget with General Budget in the
long-term interest of national transporter as well as the country’s
economy.
All-India Railwaymen’s Federation General Secretary Gopal Mishra said
Railway Ministry’s autonomy will be lost in the merger. “But we have to
see in what form the merger will happen,” he said.
The merger move is significant as it is expected to have political implications.
It has been seen that almost every Railway Minister, particularly in
coalition governments, has addressed his constituencies by doling out
favours by way of new trains and projects.
The keenly sought after Railway Ministry is likely to lose much of its sheen if merger happens.
