Rs 1,000 cr each for land and station wings

Plan to upgrade 60 stations as 'Adarsh Stations'

Railway Minister P K Bansal on Tuesday proposed to fix a target of Rs 1,000 crore of earnings each for the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and the Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) in 2013-14.

The RLDA was set up by the ministry in November 2006. It was to be responsible for development of vacant land belonging to the railways, which could be used for commercial purposes to generate revenue. The was to do so by a public-private partnership route.

The IRSDC was set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle in November 2011, with equity participation of Ircon International Ltd, a company under the ministry, and the RLDA.
 

The RLDA website says Indian Railways has about 43,000 hectares of vacant land. Each zonal railway is to identify land not required for operational purposes in the foreseeable future and send details to the Railway Board. These land lots are to be given, in phases, to RLDA.

It appears RLDA earned Rs 1,105 crore in 2011-12, Rs 732 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 649 crore in 2009-10.

Bansal said the ministry would allocate Rs 100 crore to augment infrastructure and revamp the facilities of different railway stations in the National Capital Region. "I recognise the need for special attention to stations in the NCR," he said in his budget speech.

"Development of directional terminals began some years back with the opening of Anand Vihar station. Studies for a terminal at Bijwasan will be taken up during the year. Further, to augment infrastructure and revamp the facilities at Delhi, New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin, works costing Rs 100 crore have been taken up."

Bansal also said the ministry would identify 104 stations serving a population of more than a million each or serving places of religious or tourist importance, for immediate attention to all aspects related to cleanliness.

During 2013-14, the railways plans to upgrade 60 stations as 'Adarsh Stations' in addition to the 980 already selected.

Following the popularity of the Executive Lounge at New Delhi railway station, the ministry has decided to set up such facilities at seven more stations �" Bilaspur, Visakhapatnam, Patna, Nagpur, Agra, Jaipur and Bangalore.