Lalu Chugs Along Merrily!

With Lalu Yadav as the Railway Minister the budget had naturally to be people friendly but few expected him to present a budget that would please all hearts. More importantly, he has succeeded in presenting the human face of governance though the cynics might attribute it to the electoral politics. But having turned the corner it is only natural that other issues are also addressed. The budget 2008-2009 has done that.

by ARABINDA GHOSE

The last week of February every year is a week of action and tension in New Delhi because three important financial documents are presented to Parliament during this week- the Railway budget, the Economic Survey and the General Budget. Of them, the Railway budget perhaps draws the greatest attention, which normally it should not because, in any case, the general budget incorporates the final figures of the Railway Budget.

However, when it is Lalu Prasad Yadav who presents the Railway Budget, the story becomes entirely different. This has been so all these four years – 04-05, 05-06, 06-07,and lastly the 07-08.However, on the occasion of his presenting presumably his last budget on February 26 ,08 for the year 08-09, he beat his own record, as it were, in arousing popular interest across the nation never witnessed by any Railway Minister so far.

Which Railway Minister has made people wild with joy and dance at the beat of drums after they witnessed the budget on TV sets at railway stations? But this is what happened when Mr. Lalu Prasad announced, in course of his reading the budget speech that henceforth railway porters (“coolies”) would be eligible for joining railway services as gang men first and later as gatemen when a large number of unmanned level crossings would become “manned”.

As soon as was announced, the “coolies” started dancing on railway platforms not only at Patna Junction station, but also across the nation, even at Jammu, two thousand kilometers from Patna The coolies” or “hamals” who carry your luggage from your cars or taxis to your compartment in the train and on arrival at the destination carry the same luggage to your vehicle, will now be eligible to become government servants as gangmen and later, as gatemen when unmanned level crossings are to be “manned”.

A gangman is a person who along with his colleagues guards the railway tracks all 24 hours of the day. The erstwhile “coolies” then will have a proper job with regular salaries ensuring a bright future for his children. As gatemen, he will have a fixed place to live and will serve a social cause by preventing railway accidents at unmanned level crossings. There are about 37,500 vacancies for gang men and the total number of unmanned level crossings over the 63,300 km railway network in the country is 18,200.

The social revolutionary that he is, despite being dubbed a village bum, Lalu Prasad’s railway budget for 2008-09 will always be remembered for this revolution. In the same tone, he has announced that women senior citizens will now be eligible to travel by train at 50 per cent of the fares, he also announced the launching of a mother and child Express for serving expectant mothers and children including delivery room which will run all over the country serving women and children. Lalu ji has also announced substantial reduction in trains fares for all classes and all trains, although for higher class like AC-I and AC II the reduction by seven and four percent respectively which will be valid only for slack seasons that is only during February, March, and November.

This budget will also be remembered for the reason that not only Laluji himself, but his Officer on Special Duty, Mr. Sudhir Kumar, haves de-mystified, if one were to use this phraseology, the manner in which the Railways have been earning astronomical revenue, year after year since 2004-05.

Mr. Kumar says on the “out of the box thinking and boldness of vision and courage “that is driving the turnaround:” The core strategy can be summarized into three words, each worth a billion dollars in surplus-faster, heavier and longer trains. By following the twin strategy of reducing the turnaround time of the wagon, Railways earned additional surplus of over three and a half billion dollars. Initiatives like running popular trains with 22-24 coaches, free upgradation of waitlisted passengers, e-ticketing, etc. have benefited customers and the railways alike.”

He adds: “Given the fact that marginal cost of operations is substantiallylower than the average cost of operations, the strategy is to play on volumes, reduce unit cost reduce tariff, improve market share and earn record profits. The game is to improve yield per train as against earlier obsession with tariff –rate per passenger or tonne.”

Mr. Kumar says that “if the Railways were a corporation and not a government departments, on the benchmark of net profit it would have joined the elite club of top Fortune 500 companies”. Mr. Lalu Prasad’s speech on this issue was similar in nature.The Chairman of the Railway Board, Mr. K.C. Jena also dwelt on the issue saying that the key driver behind the improvement of in the performance has been the growth in freight loading. Over the last three years, Indian Railways have consistently maintained an incremental loading of more than 60 million tones (MT), and have now set a target of loading 850 MT in 2008-09.

He disclosed that a blueprint had been prepared for the high density network (HDN) of 20,000 kilometers which carries 75 per cent of total traffic. HDN routes which serve core infrastructure industries like coal, steel, iron ore, cement, containers will be strengthened over the next five years at a cost of Rs. 75,000 crores Progressive extension of route kilometers capable of carrying wagons of higher capacity is being made. Upgradation of select iron ore and bulk cargo routes to run wagons with 25-tonne axle load is also being undertaken. Outlays for doubling had been stepped up. Induction of 250 diesel locomotives, 220 electric locomotives and 20,000 wagons has been planed for the next year, he said.

Mr. Jena said that the five-year plan for the Railways for 2007-2012 had been fixed at Rs. 2,33,000 crores. A huge investment to the extent of Rs.1,69,000 crores will be generated internally and extra-budgetary resources. Indian Railways has been meeting higher percentages of its plan programmes since the last few years progressively. In 2002-03, it had internal generation of 27 per cent of the annual plan, in 2007-08 this has increased to 53 per cent. In 2008-09, it will be 56 per cent of the annual plan of Rs. 37,500 crores.

Mr. Lalu Prasad made two announcements regarding the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors. He said work on them would start very soon. More importantly, he announced that a law for land acquisition on the lines of that done for the National Highway Authority of India would be passed soon which will make land acquisition for the freight corridor easy and hassle-free.

Certain innovations promised by the Minister deserve special mention. He promised that within two years he would ensure that there is no rush at booking counters because the bulk of bookings would done through e-ticketing. Then, green toilets Very soon, toilet discharges would become odourless and would be released in liquid form.

Contrary to fears expressed by some, the number and frequency of accidents over the Railways has been decreasing and it is now only a fraction of what used to be in the 1960s and 1970s. Many have described the Railway budget as poll-oriented one. Well, since the elections for the Lok Sabha are due in one year’s time, and it is probably Laluji’s last railway budget, people might grant him this privilege, more so because this time too, he has not increased railway fare even by one paisa like in the last four years.