A Railway Budget that made honest assessment,warts and all

The budget documents released by the Railways Ministry tell the story of the financial mess the Indian Railways find themselves in.

Consider these:

* In 2011-12,Railways’ total expenditure overshot the expected figure by Rs 2,102 crore.

* In the same period,their net revenue fell short of the expected mark by Rs 4,848 crore.

* The “excess” (earlier called Surplus) amount which Railways should have ended the fiscal with fell short of the targeted mark by Rs 3,766 crore.

* With an “excess” of just Rs 1,492 crore in its coffers,Railways have had to take a loan of Rs 3,000 crore from the

Finance Ministry to fund safety-related works.

* This shortfall in surplus also mean that they their two most critical reserves—the Capital Fund and the Development Fund—will only get 1,492 crore as against the targeted Rs 5,258 crore.

* The Operating Ratio (money spent to earn every Rs 100) was targeted at 91.1 percent. The Railways ended with an alarming 95 percent.

But for a change,here was Railways Minister who was upfront about all of this.

“I have no hesitation in informing this august House that Indian Railways are passing through a difficult phase. In the current year,although there were no arrears of Pay Commission to be paid,the impact of allowances and several post-budgetary factors has been very stressful for the finances of the Railways,” Trivedi said in his Budget speech.

He even explained how the continued ban on export of iron ore by Karnataka and Odisha state governments had led the Railways to scale down the loading target from from 993 million tonnes to 970 million tonnes.

The Railways Minister,unlike many of his predecessors,was also candid enough in admitting that the growth in passenger travel had failed to touch the 5.9 per cent mark and has forced a scaling down of revenue by Rs 1,656 crore.

He also said that the railways had fallen short in “other coaching and sundry earnings” by Rs 2,322 crore.

Probably the only silver lining in this grim picture is the fact that Railways,despite the fund crunch,will be able to pay a dividend of Rs 5,652 crore to the Government of India.

Here too,Trivedi was honest enough in thanking the Railway Convention Committee for reducing the rate of dividend from 6 percent to five for the current fiscal,thereby providing a relief of Rs 650 crore to the beleaguered ministry.

Railways had budget Rs 6,734.72 crore as their dividend liability for this fiscal. They will now have to pay only Rs 5,652.24 crore this year.

This couplet that Trivedi recited as he neared the conclusion of his speech probably summed up the state of Indian Railways: “Kandhey jhuk gaye hain,kamar lachak gayi hai,bojha utha utha kar,bechari rail thak gayi hai. Railgadi ko nayi dawa,naya asar chahiye. Is safar mein mujhko apsa humsafar chahiye.”