PV Mithun Reddy
New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu is a good person. He has some visions for the Railways and really wants to do something. The second Railways Budget presented by him has his stamp. I am happy that he has focussed on three important things – customer experience, speed of trains and the Railways contribution to national growth. In his opening remarks he said, “The Railways reflects the aspiration of each and every Indian. Customer experience at consumer level is very important. That’s why speed of train and national growth are also important.”
He has said that he will improve the efficiency of Railways as it is the backbone of India’s growth. He is hoping to achieve revenue of Rs 1 lakh 84,000 crore in the next financial year. He has also announced that unmanned level crossings will be phased out. It is a very important thing as they cause a lot of accidents. Prabhu aims to increase the average speed of trains to 50 km/hour and wants to hold the ministry accountable. These are some of the good things in the budget. By moving to e-tender to avoid large scale corruption, he is trying to make it transparent. It is also a good move. He has also announced the use of social media and new technology to make the Railways accessible to the common people. Introducing food of choice, Wi-Fi etc are really good and make it a modern one.
Railways Minister has said that it now has an enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 per minute. These are some of the welcome moves.
Prabhu has also announced several pro-passenger plans for the Railways. As I have already mentioned, these are good initiatives. But, if he fails to implement the plans, there will be no real growth. Successful implementation within timeframe is key to success of any plans. There should also be monetary allocation for the proposed projects.
As we know, Railways is a huge ministry and we have the world’s largest Railways network. Personally, I feel that it is doing just fine. But, there are certain issues we should be worried about. The ministry has been politicised over the years. Once the Railways Minister loses his or her portfolio or government loses power, many projects announced by that minister or the government will also get cancelled. There should be some sanctity attached to these announcements and irrespective of the political changes, projects should be completed within the stipulated period. Political upheavals and change of government should not affect the functioning of the Railways.
The Budget proves that the financial health of Railways is not in a good shape and needs to be improved. The window dressing of the finances of Railways is of no use. We need a new approach to make it healthy. The Railways is profitable in my state of Andhra Pradesh. But, it is not getting the benefits of it. The Railways Minister should come out with a plan to reward such states.
Andhra Pradesh needs much more Railways projects. After the bifurcation of the state, the state is left with less infrastructures. Hope, in the next three years, the Railways minister will do much more for the state.
To improve anything, one needs to improve fundamentals of any sector. If the fundamentals are not strong, nothing survives in the long run. Prabhu has hinted that he wants to improve the fundamentals rather than presenting a populist budget. I wish him good luck.
(P V Mithun Reddy is a Member of the Parliament, Rajampet Lok Sabha Seat in Andhra Pradesh. He represents YSRCP)
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