New Rail Projects Palmed Off As Extensions

Former railway minister Mamata Banerjee may have earned the kudos for ostensibly putting a stop to the pernicious practice of announcing new projects with every budget, but it now turns out that as many as 13 new works, most of which have a negative rate of return, were added to the already long list of ongoing projects.

The new projects, eight of which have a projected negative rate of return, have been included in the budget in the name of "extension" of existing lines and would cost an additional Rs 730 crore. They include four new lines, seven gauge conversions, and two doubling.

With funds hard to come by and an imminent cut in plan expenditure, the Railways have decided to put all these projects in the cold storage as of now, official sources said.

"Even the estimate of Rs 730 crore is not realistic as the final survey reports of many of these projects are not available. The cost has been arrived on the basis rough estimates of similar projects in other parts of the country," they said.

If the Railways were to complete all their ongoing projects, they would require over Rs 35,000 crore, but that had not stopped successive ministers for adding to the list for political gain.

This year, while presenting the budget, Banerjee had congratulated herself for taking the "bold" decision for not introducing any new line projects keeping in mind the "long-term interests" of the organisation despite "disappointing" many of her colleagues.

Taking note of the issue, the Parliamentary standing committee on Railways has recommended a moratorium on new projects till funds are assured for ongoing works.

The committee has also suggested formulation of guidelines for the Railways to take up such projects with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for sanction.