House Panel Raps Railways For Time, Cost Overruns

The parliamentary standing committee on railways has extended support to the railways' campaign that the Centre should reimburse the cost of subsidised travel in certain sectors.

The committee headed by Mamata Banerjee has suggested that railways should be compensated for the public service obligations, especially in passenger and suburban traffic.

The House committee has accepted some of the issues raised by the railway ministry in its White Paper presented in Parliament recently.

At the same time, the committee has rapped the railway ministry for cost and time overruns caused by its penchant for taking up new projects every year without having sufficient funds at its disposal.

"Every year new projects are taken up at the cost of priority projects and those nearing completion. The priority criteria for funding projects have not been adhered to," the committee said in its report on demands for grants for 1998-99.

The committee observed that the cost of completing all pending projects was Rs 35,000 crore. It has asked the ministry to evolve a policy to select new

projects. "At the present rate of allocation, it will take 40 years for completion of all pending new line projects, 10-11 years for gauge conversion and five-six years for doubling of lines," it said.

The committee warned that unless the ministry adheres to a fixed time-frame for completing projects, it will not be feasible for the railways to get rid of the ongoing predicament of time and cost overruns of pending projects.

The committee stressed that selection of new projects should not be made arbitrarily.

But on the recommendations of a committee comprising representatives of the railways, finance ministry, Planning Commission and other departments.

The committee expressed its displeasure over scrutiny by various agencies like planning commission, expanded board, cabinet committee on economic affairs, of projects included in the budget for which necessary financial allocations were voted and approved by Parliament. These were held up for non-clearance by these agencies.

It recommended new projects be included in the budget only after they received the necessary clearance from the concerned agencies.

It has recommended that the railway rolling stock should be considered as a part of the infrastructure for relief facility under section 80 (la). The Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) be exempted from payment of minimum alternative tax under section 115 (ja) of the Income Tax act.

The committee has taken a serious view of the burgeoning lease charges payable every year to the IRFC which has been borrowing money from the public and other financial institutions.

Referring to security of passengers and their belongings in trains, the committee has called for evolving a mechanism jointly by the railways, state governments and the home ministry so that government railway police personnel were made accountable to the railways for any lapse.

It underlined the need for a comprehensive plan of action to combat the unlawful activities in the train for the security of common passengers, especially women and children.

The committee has suggested setting up of a monitoring committee with special powers to check the rates, quality and quantity of eatables and other materials sold at the platforms and in the trains.

The committee recommended that the planning commission and the finance ministry should ensure sufficient funds for signalling and telecom requirements of the railways, stressing that safety of passengers was of utmost importance and could not be compromised at any cost.

Keeping in view the importance of signalling and telecommunication in the railways, the committee reiterated that a post of a member for this department should be created in the railway board without any further delay.

It also suggested that for the safety of women passengers, lady constables should be deputed in all the 'ladies only' compartments in the trains.

The committee has also expressed strong apprehensions about the success of the 'talkal' instant reservation scheme. Unless monitored effectively, it could become more profitable to the touts rather than the needy public, it warned.

It stressed that reservations should also be provided on a priority basis to students going for interviews, persons going for medical treatment or in emergency situations like death.