Railways gets `1.31 lakh cr for development

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday proposed to allocate Rs 131,000 crore as capital and development expenditure for the Indian railways during fiscal 2017-18.

The Union budget emphasised on providing railway passengers with better amenities and more safety, as Jaitley announced a special 'Rail Safety Fund' of Rs one lakh crore, which was earlier announced in 2002 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

This is the first time that expenditure, fiscal support and various sector-specific schemes for the railways was announced in the Union Budget.

The decision to merge the standalone Railway Budget with the general Budget was taken by the Union Cabinet last year.

"For 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure of railways has been pegged at Rs 131,000 crore. This includes Rs 55,000 crore provided by the government," Jaitley said, presenting the Union Budget 2017-18.

"Among other things, the railways will focus on four major areas -- passenger safety, capital and development works, cleanliness and finance and accounting reforms."

He said the "Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (Railway Safety Fund) will be created with a corpus of Rs one lakh crore over a period of five years".

"Besides seed capital from the government, the railways will arrange the balance resources from their own revenues and other sources."
(Agencies: PTI & IANS)