Dinesh Trivedi watched his Railway Budget being rolled back on television. He tells Kavita Chowdhury how he felt — now that he is a former railway minister
There has largely been a rollback of the passenger fare hike you proposed as railway minister. But, as someone who has got to know about Indian Railways closely, how grave is the situation?
At this moment in time, Indian Railways is on the brink of a financial collapse. This has also been made evident in the Kakodkar Committee report. The railways require new direction and, if this is not done, not just the railways, but the nation would be dragged down. The operating ratio is at 95 per cent and it is just getting worse. My whole plan was to arrest that and restore the financial health of the railways.
I had chalked out a specific road map for the next decade. I would have started off with bringing down the operating ratio to 84.5 per cent. Also, for the next five years, we would have concentrated on modernising 19,000 km of tracks, which carry 80 per cent of the traffic — the most high-density route. In order to strengthen the whole system, I had even suggested reforming the Railway Board. I don’t know what will happen now.
Your critics say instead of increasing fares, plugging leakages in the system and improving the efficiency of the railways would have the same result.
Plugging leakages is a continuous, simultaneous process. I had urged a change in the procurement system itself — making the whole process technology-driven. I wanted e-procurement for tenders. After all, these are long-term tenders.
The procurement system is inefficient today. There should not be tender files any longer. And, it should not take more than 15 days to clear tenders. This culture of negotiation and re-negotiation is what breeds corruption. Whoever qualifies should get the tender. The entire process has become subjective and is a source of corruption.
Even auctioning of scrap should be electronically driven; it is a part of modernisation. Painting of railway coaches does not mean modernisation of Indian Railways. The world has moved 50 years ahead, and we in comparison look like a third world country. Indian Railways is capable of much more.
Most problems that the railways are facing are a carryover from the policies of your predecessor and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee?
It has been going on for the last two decades. Nobody till date thought of a generational change, everybody talks of incremental changes.
I had the advantage of two expert committees — the Kakodkar and the Sam Pitroda reports. It is like the doctors have given two prescriptions, and you throw these in the dustbin!
Indian Railways is ailing and ageing. Age with ailment is a deadly combination and that’s when accidents take place.
At the moment, the tracks are not safe. By politicising the railways, you are not helping, but risking the life of the common man.
The common man travels mostly by daily suburban rail. The poor living in villages travel occasionally on longer routes. It’s a myth that the fare hike has angered the common man. There have been no protests by passengers, nor have I received any plea or petition request.
Did Mamata Banerjee know about the fare hike?
Yes, a senior bureaucrat close to her knew about it.
So, her claim that she had no knowledge of the proposed fare hike is not true?
I don’t know.
What is your opinion on the rollback of passenger fares announced by the new railway minister?
The credibility of Indian Railways has taken a beating. No private partner will consider investing in the railways, as it is not viable. Also, investments through the public-private-partnership mode will be hard to come by.
How satisfying was your eight-month stint at the helm of Indian Railways?
It was quite satisfying. And, I learnt a lot. Indian Railways is only next to the Army. It needs to change with changing challenges. The railways have outlived their utility; the time has come to start rebuilding. The railways will come to a standstill if we don’t do this. It’s nowhere near a safe system.
I started envisioning the Budget the day I took over at the ministry. For eight months, I had been working towards it.
With the freight rate hike, I have been able to give it life for at least one more year. Else, it would have gone the Air India way. The sad part is that people don’t realise that freight rate hike affects the common man more than a hike in passenger fares. Even if he/she doesn’t travel, it ultimately affects him/her.
So, according to you, the poor are largely unaffected by the passenger fare hike?
The ‘Izzat Scheme’ that Mamata Banerjee had introduced has been extended in this Budget from 100 km to 150 km for the entire suburban railway stretch across the country. There has been no hike in that — it has been kept untouched and is still at Rs 25. In real terms, it has been good for the poor man. He is able to travel more distance in the same amount (Rs 25). But that is not being talked about or discussed.
What we have done instead is to play politics with Indian Railways. The railways are not the private property of Dinesh Trivedi or a particular region or a party.
So, the entire issue of fare hike has been politicised?
What does the political system understand about the railways? If the railways collapse, where do you go from there? If you want to do good, you are damned; and if you don’t want to, you are still damned. I don’t understand this politics. I would rather do what I have to do than succumb to political pressure.
What is Dinesh Trivedi’s political future?
I take life as it comes. For me politics is not a career, it’s a way of giving back to society. It’s not an employment exchange for me. Even when I joined Parliament in 1990, I had given my financial statement. I was told by the chairman that there was no such system to accept it. Also, I was the one who spoke of no work, no pay for parliamentarians.
If you had a say in sorting out the Singur episode in West Bengal, would you have done that any differently?
I would have picked up the phone, spoken to Mr Ratan Tata, invited him over for a cup of tea and sorted it out. I would have convinced him that we could work together, have a Nano factory and ensure that farmers are happy.
