Parl panel miffed at Planning Comm tweaking of rly outlay

A parliamentary panel on Railways today expressed unhappiness over the reduction made by Planning Commission in the financial outlay proposed by the public transporter for itself for the 12th Plan.
While the Railways had proposed an outlay of Rs 5.48 lakh crore, Planning Commission reduced the same to Rs 5.19 lakh crore while also changing the distribution of funding sources, the panel said in its report tabled in Parliament today.
The gross budgetary support has been reduced by 40 per cent - from Rs 3,16,842 crore to Rs 1,94,221 crore - whereas the internal generation has been increased by 77 per cent, from Rs 59,370 crore to Rs 1,05,000 crore, the panel said.

"The committee urges the railway ministry to take up the issue of inadequate budgetary support with the government at the highest level, especially in view of the large number of pending and ongoing railway projects," it said.
Meanwhile, the panel further felt that steps should have been taken much earlier over the ministry's advisory to the Zonal Railways to conduct bi-monthly meetings with state governments and the NHAI to resolve interface issues related to work on Road Over Bridges and Rail Under Bridges.
However, it may be ensured that these meetings are held regularly, the panel noted.
The panel also pointed out that the matter should be pursued on a regular basis with the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal as they had shown an unwillingness to share costs due to a paucity of funds at their end.

The panel urged the ministry to better manage its implementing machinery as construction of only 90 bridges till March 31, 2013, out of a total of 379 such sanctioned projects, could not at all be considered a satisfactory performance.