Falls short of taking bold measures

COMMENT: S Murali, Former Financial Commissioner, Indian Railways

The viability of a Budget is tested in times of financial constraint. Mamata Banerjee’s Budget had the golden opportunity of taking the blazing trail and taking bold measures, in which it fell short. They should have focused more on new schemes and financing options. While it has been announced that an expert committee on evaluating the financing options will be set up, its success will be possible only if a rigid timeline is laid down.

Banerjee has taken into consideration the humanitarian aspect as well as the need of the people. However, with the team comprising the economic soundness of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as well as Rail Minister Mamata Banerjee, more efforts should have been made to balance the earnings with the spending that was announced today. It is almost like using a credit card where you purchase whatever you want and worry about the payment later.

Most of the burden of funding is laid on the freight tariffs and passenger fares that have not been increased. Even if the passenger fares were not touched, more could have been done in freight to earn more revenues.

While the railways should be concentrating on its core service, fresh ideas are needed to spruce up the earnings of the department. The government has increased direct support to the railways by Rs 5,000 crore and it will get indirect support as well, but the railways on its own should find innovative ways of revenue generation to sustain all the initiatives announced.