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No fare hike, no new trains
The Railway Budget on Thursday hiked freight rates on cement, coal, foodgrains and pulses, urea, kerosene and LPG by up to 10 per cent to mop up an additional Rs 4,000 crore a year but spared passengers from any raise in fares while ruling out privatisation. Unveiling his maiden budget which he termed as \"four goals, five drivers and 11 thrust areas\" to boost Railways,
Freight rates up; Prabhu drives Rail Budget by 4, 5, 11 mantra
New Delhi: The Railway Budget on Thursday hiked freight rates on cement, coal, foodgrains and pulses, urea, kerosene and LPG by up to 10 per cent to mop up an additional Rs 4,000 crore a year but spared passengers from any raise in fares while ruling out privatisation. Unveiling his maiden budget which he termed as "four goals, five drivers and 11 thrust areas" to boost Railways, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu did not announce any new trains or lines pending a review but said he would concentrate on consolidating the existing ones.
“I have not increased the passenger fares," he announced at the outset of his hour-long budget speech and made no mention of the rationalisation of freight rates that was done by a sleight of hand through an explanatory memorandum. The hike, which will be effective from April 1 this year, will cover a wide-range of items like cement, coal, grains and pulses, urea, iron ore, kerosene and LPG.
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While common salt has been left untouched, in the case of diesel and limestone there will be a marginal reduction in the freight adjustment done through re-classification of goods and distance rationalisation. At the post-Budget briefing, Prabhu sought to justify the exercise saying rationalisation has always been done while Member (Traffic) Ajay Shukla was at pains to project that on some goods actually there will be reduction in freight on longer distance.
Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said there will be no increase in the prices of urea for farmers since the government will be subsidising the commodity. But officials estimated an additional revenue mobilisation of Rs 4,000 crore a year on account of freight increase. Industry associations estimate Rs 300 crore subsidy burden on movement of urea and Rs 600 crore on foodgrains.
Carriage of grain and pulses as well as urea will suffer a 10 per cent hike in freight while coal will attract a 6.3 per cent increase. In a Budget that had no big bang announcements but aims at providing more facilities, Prabhu unveiled 11 major thrust areas to improve cleanliness, better bed linen, helpline for ensuring security, including camera surveillance for women safety, ticketing and e-booking of meals of choice.
