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Showing posts with label PMO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PMO. Show all posts

Monday, 19 December 2016

08:05

Railways plans separate agency for fare changes

Railways plans separate agency for fare changes

NEW DELHI: The railway ministry will soon seek Cabinet approval for setting up an independent agency to recommend passenger and freight fares, a move that could depoliticise the thorny matter of revising rates. 

According to a top official, the proposal will be sent to the Cabinet this week and approval could come as early as next week. Once approved, this will count as the second most important step, after the merger of the rail budget with the Union Budget, toward reforming the national transporter that’s been losing Rs 33,000 crore every year in passenger fare subsidies. 

The proposed Railway Development Authority of India will consist of a chairman and four members independent of the railways. The ministry has already received comments from various ministries and the Niti Aayog. 

The official said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has already discussed the proposal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top officials in the Prime Minister’s Office and they were supportive of such an agency. 

“The proposed authority would be free to recommend fares and freight rates. It would rationalise the entire fare structure for the railways. It would be a big transformational change for the organisation. We will keep rationalising fare as per the market demand,” Prabhu recently told ET. 

According to the official quoted above, the original proposal to set up a regulator that decides fares has for now been diluted to an authority that only recommends their revision. “Through this route we won’t require parliamentary approval and a regulator could be set up without any delay through the Cabinet clearance,” the official said. 

The proposed body will also set performance standards for Indian Railways. 

“It would be a great move as on one end we will be able to revise passenger fares in a timebound manner but it would also end the monopolistic view railways has taken in deciding freight rates over the years, which has led to a lot of loss in freight traffic,” the official added. 

In recent years, the railways has been increasing freight rates to compensate for losses on passenger traffic. 

“Our freight rates are much more than several European countries and China,” the official said. “Because of this we have lost a lot of traffic to roads as price differences has reduced. The proposed body will recommend freight rates considering the competition we have from roadways and inland waterways.”




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Wednesday, 29 June 2016

08:13

Railway Budget unlikely to be scrapped soon: Railway Board

Railway Budget unlikely to be scrapped soon: Railway Board

New Delhi: The plan to scrap India’s annual railway budget and merge it with the Union budget, as recommended by the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog, or NITI Aayog, may find opposition from the finance ministry.

The change in the almost century-old tradition is unlikely to happen immediately, according to two senior railway ministry officials. They added that the resistance may come from the finance ministry due to the need for provisioning for pensioner expenses.

The Indian Railways is facing a financial crunch and is looking for external financing options to fund projects. At present, there are close to 1.4 million pensioners under the railways who draw Rs.8,000 crore per year. The railways is also staring at an increased financial burden of Rs.40,000 crore, given the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

“The finance ministry will not agree since it will have to provide for expenses such as pension liability and I am not sure it will want to take on that responsibility,” said a railway ministry official quoted above.

The finance ministry is still to approve a Rs.1.19 trillion railway safety fund owing to financial crunch. The government has sought the railway ministry’s comments on the 20-page note titled ‘Dispensing with the Rail Budget’, jointly authored by NITI Aayog members Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai, submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). It has been endorsed by railway minister Suresh Prabhu.

A separate railway budget neither addressed the railways’ funding requirements, nor made it accountable for delivery. It also says a separate budget has led to politicisation of railway affairs and has failed to ensure time-bound implementation of railway projects.

The first official quoted above added NITI Aayog has asked for comments from the ministry of railways but no decision has been taken till now.

“The ministry of railways has on several occasions said a separate railway budget is not required. The possibility of it being scraped is a call that the PMO or the finance ministry has to take,” said the official.

The development comes at a time when the national transporter is losing traffic, and freight and passenger revenue to roads and air routes.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of the finance ministry, the railway ministry, the PMO and NITI Aayog on 24 June remained unanswered.

Experts though believe that consolidation will be a positive step for the railway ministry but the merger will depend on how technicalities are dealt with.

“The railways, unlike other ministries, ends up earning as much as it spends. It functions differently from other ministries and as a result, all expenditure will have to be dealt by the finance ministry. The amalgamation of the budget will have to be done very carefully. There are a lot of overseas investments and loans that the railways has to take care of. It will have to be looked into as to who will be responsible for the payment of loans,” said former Railway Board chairman Vivek Sahai.

The railways capital outlay for the financial year 2016-17 is Rs1.21 trillion compared with around Rs1 trillion in the last budget.

The second railway official said that unlike other ministries the railways generates its own earnings and caters to expenditure, the onus of which will fall on the finance ministry if the railway budget is consolidated with the Union budget.

“Railways is a very peculiar kind of ministry. We earn and we spend. The only burden on the finance ministry is the budgetary support. Once the finance ministry takes over the budget, they will have to do the accounting and they will have to take all our books into their account,” added the official.

Source:RailNews
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Sunday, 15 May 2016

09:21

PMO wants implementation of 7th Pay Commission soon

PMO wants implementation of 7th Pay Commission soon

New Delhi: Influential quarters of the government are lobbying for 7th Pay Commission award to central government employees at crucial period for central government like centre defeat in the Uttarakhand assembly floor test on Tuesday, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) has advised to the Finance Ministry to offer 7th Pay Commission package soon despite other crises.
The PMO has recommended to offer 7th Pay Commission award in July to augment the financial assistance to central government employees, sources in Finance Ministry familiar with the matter said on Friday asking not be named,
“We have seen the recommendations of the PMO. Accordingly the Secretaries group works hard for the the execution of new pay package would definitely in July,” said sources.

They said execution of the new pay package involves Rs 120 crore and before that the government has to spend Rs 70 crore on salaries and arrears in this year for the central government employees.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley provided fund for pay commission implementation in his Budget 2016-17. “Jaitley while introducing the Seventh Pay Commission report on November 19 already said that the final decisions on the Seventh Pay Commission report took five and a half months including the process of Secretaries group,” source said.

“PMO, narrating the “importance” of the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations, said it was necessary to provide different incentives, including a higher pay package, to the central government employees to build a “pro-people” administration.

The PMO asked to adopt the method in which salaries of central government employees in all segments automatically go up with the pace of inflation or consumer price indices.

PMO asked a 30% rise in the basic pay of a central government employee and that the lowest salary be increased to Rs 21,000,” source added.

The 7th Pay Commission recommended 23.55 per cent gross increase in salary, allowances and pensions, 63 per cent per cent increase in allowances, 24 per cent per cent increase in pension, while 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay, the lowest in 70 years.

The previous Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in basic pay which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

A 13 member secretary-level Empowered Committee or Secretaries group, led by cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, formed in January to review the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission before cabinet nod.

Source:Govemployees
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Tuesday, 8 March 2016

07:32

Government is all set to implement the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission soon..

Government is all set to implement the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission soon..

Seventh Pay Commission: Good News! Govt won't scrap existing facilities, allowances

New Delhi, Mar 4: After dropping enough hint that Government is all set to implement the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission soon, here is yet another good news for central government employees.

According to Finance Ministry sources, Government won't be making any changes in the existing advances and facilities, enjoyed by Central government employees. Pay commission had suggested abolition of many privileges and facilities including risk allowance, small family allowance, festival advance and motor cycle advance etc in its recommendations.

Reportedly, employees associations and Trade Unions were not happy with the suggestions by the pay commission. They had requested government to make its stand clear on it. 

Reportedly, Finance Ministry was constantly in touch with PMO over the same. Finally PMO said that it doesn't want to disappoint government staff. 

A Finance Ministry sources was quoted by a news website as saying, "The PMO has sent its directive and it says that existing privileges cannot be curtailed. Betterment must be done for central government employees by protecting the current facilities". 

Earlier, Government in its Budget document made the announcement that pay Commission will be implemented during the financial year 2016-17. 

Centre further said the once-in-a-decade pay hike has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries and budget numbers were credible. 

The voluminous budget documents state that "the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission due from January 1, 2016 is to be implemented during the financial year 2016-17 as also the revised One Rank One Pension scheme for Defence services." "The government has made provisions for the additional liabilities on these count," it said, without giving the amount allocated for implementation.

Source :Sapost
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Thursday, 25 February 2016

08:25

Centre likely to Spend more to Modernise Indian Railways

Centre likely to Spend more to Modernise Indian Railways

Prime Minister Modi asks States to revamp Railway stations into icons

New Delhi: The centre is likely to increase its investment in the modernisation of railways by 20 percent to 30 percent in the upcoming railway budget, apart from “rationalising” freight tariffs in the wake of falling revenue from goods transportation.

The government may also increase the planned outlay for the next fiscal year, but the rise is expected to be lower than the 52 percent increase for the current fiscal year. Despite an allocation of nearly Rs one lakh crore towards plan outlay for 2015-2016, the spending may end the year at around Rs 90,000 crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held meeting with the secretaries of all Central ministries and asked the states to redevelop at least one railway station under their jurisdiction and make it an iconic structure and a centre of economic activity. The PM also met his Cabinet colleagues and reviewed functioning of their ministries.

Last month, in a meeting of the council of ministers, the PM had said that on every fourth Wednesday of the month he would be holding such review meetings.

During the meeting with all the secretaries and chief secretaries via video conferencing (known as Pragati meeting), Mr Modi also directed the states to work towards speedy implementation of solar power projects in their respective jurisdiction.

Further, the PM reviewed the programme for elimination of Kala Azar, and called for all efforts to eradicate the disease. He also directed officials to address related public grievances to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Progress of vital infrastructure projects in the road, railway, coal, power and renewable energy sectors, spread over several states were also reviewed by him, official sources said.

“Today’s PRAGATI session was extensive. We discussed infra projects, Mission Indradhanush, upgradation of NIFT campuses & other issues,” Mr Modi later tweeted.

Taking stock of the comprehensive re-development projects of railway stations, he suggested to all Chief Secretaries to work towards at least one such re-development project in each state, a PMO statement said.

Modi said such re-developed railway stations would become iconic structures and centres of economic activity, it added.

Reviewing the Char-Dham road connectivity improvement project in Uttarakhand, the Prime Minister called for expediting the work at the earliest.

“Also called for expediting work on the Char-Dham road connectivity improvement project in Uttarakhand,” he said in another tweet.

Railways’ expenditure on construction of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion has gone up significantly in recent years. The upcoming budget may lay more emphasis on generating more revenue from freight traffic, given the slowing growth in the segment.

The railways may cut freight tariffs for commodities, including coal, iron ore, cement, steel, fertilisers, foodgrains and container traffic.

“The target is to increase freight volume by 50 million tonnes through tariff cuts,” said a source. The transporter is also hopeful of raising income from transportation of petroleum products.

The railways is estimated to see about one percent growth in freight business in the current fiscal year. So, it is planning to revise its strategy by initiating tariff reductions on transports of commodities like cement and steel.

Though it may miss the freight target of 1.2 billion tonnes set for 2015-2016 by 75-80 MT, said an official.

Last week, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said the government would continue with the initiatives taken in the previous Budget for the development of Indian Railways.

The total income of the Indian Railways went up by 12.16 percent to Rs 1.58 lakh crore in the last fiscal year ending March 2015, compared to Rs 1.41 lakh crore in the previous year.
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Wednesday, 10 February 2016

18:18

Pay Commission Award For Central Govt Employees Soon: PMO

Pay Commission Award For Central Govt Employees Soon: PMO

New Delhi: The government will issue the Seventh Pay Commission award notification soon to facilitate central government employees salaries with regard to inflation, the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) official said on Monday.

“But in case it’s not issued this month, it will be issued after budget. Usually it takes around two or more month to issue a notification,” he added.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) asked the Empowered Committee of Secretaries to process the review of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations as soon as possible for taking cabinet nod, the PMO officials also said.

The committee directed to address the genuine concerns raised by stakeholders and accommodate their demands as much as possible.

The first meeting of Nodal officers of different ministries was held on February 2 in the Secretariat of the Empowered Committee for discussing the relevant issues in connection with the processing of the recommendations of Pay Commission.

According to the minutes of the of first meeting, the employees’ associations through ministries can raise afresh the demand for pay hike which were rejected by the Seventh Pay Commission but it will be done in short time as the government intend to implement pay commission award soon.

Although, there is indication that the Empowered Committee is also positively mulling the demand of central government employees for hiking the minimum pay, which was recommended very low by the Seventh pay commission.

The notification of One Rank One Pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen has been issued on February 3.

“One Rank One Pension (OROP) is now going to be implemented after notification. Hence government will issue the notification of ‘Pay Commission award’ soon,” the PMO official told our reporters.

The Seventh Pay Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur recommended the minimum basic pay of central government employees is Rs 18,000 per month while the maximum is Rs 2.25 lakh per month, its increased the pay gap between the minimum and maximum from existing 1:12 to 1: 13.8.

“All pay commissions made up pay gap between employees and higher officers from second Pay Commission 1:41 ratio to Sixth pay commission 1:12, except it,” said sources.

Sources also said the cell wants to make up pay gap between employees and higher officers and to recommend to hike Basic salary at least Rs 20,000 from Rs 18,000 recommended by the Seventh pay commission.

Source:Govemployees
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Tuesday, 17 November 2015

07:56

To abolish the practice of conducting interview for appointment to Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts in various Ministries/Department -Dr Jitendra Singh

To abolish the practice of conducting interview for appointment to Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts in various Ministries/Department -Dr Jitendra Singh

Dr Jitendra Singh asks States to expedite process of abolishing interviews

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has asked the State Governments to expedite the process of abolition of interviews for recruitment to all such government jobs where it is not essential. 

Addressing a one-day workshop of Principal Secretaries of General Administration Department (GAD) / Personnel from different States and Union Territories, here today, Dr Jitendra Singh observed that soon after the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi made an announcement to this effect on Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) had immediately moved on a fast track and fixed for itself the deadline of December 31, 2015 to abolish the practice of conducting interview for appointment to Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts in various Ministries/Department and other organizations including Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the Central Government. On September 4, 2015, Secretary DoPT wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and this was followed by a two-day Workshop in the national capital on September 8-9, 2015. 

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that he had personally written D.O.Letters to Chief Ministers of all the States on September 29, 2015 requesting them to take the lead in carrying forward this initiative. While some of the States have already made a big headway in this exercise, there are other States which seem slow in response, but were expected to take the matter seriously and on fast track, he said. In his letter to the Chief Ministers, he had also requested to involve Public Service Commissions and other recruiting agencies in their respective States to identify the posts for which interview can be discontinued, he added. 

Dr Jitendra Singh said the objective behind the abolition of interview for appointments where it is not required was to ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner without causing disadvantage to poor or resourceless aspirants. This is one of the several path-breaking decisions taken by the DoPT during the last 17 months, which also include the abolition of attestation of certificates with introduction of self-attestation of certificates and the decision to revisit/revise the pattern and syllabus of IAS/Civil Services Examination, he added. 

Secretary DoPT Shri Sanjay Kothari and other senior officers of DoPT conducted the various sessions of the day-long workshop. 

Source:PIBNEWS.

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07:33

Panel under NITI Aayog takes over appraisal process of High-speed Railway network

Panel under NITI Aayog takes over appraisal process of High-speed Railway network

The PMO-appointed Empowered Committee on Innovative Collaborations under NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya has taken over the appraisal of the ambitious High-speed Railway network to ascertain its way forward and how to go about implementing the first section between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, signifying the NDA government’s seriousness regarding the cost-intensive project.

The high-power committee also has secretaries of Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Former Central Vigilance Commissioner P Shankar and former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekhar are also part of the committee.

In its first meeting held last week, the committee reviewed a presentation from Railway Board on the latest Japan International Cooperation Agency report on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor and an overview of the other lines dovetailing to the government’s grand Diamond Quadrilateral of high-speed links.

Sources said the committee stepping in to appraise and prescribe a way forward for the project also relieves the Railway Board of the tough task of having to take a decision of this magnitude—the first corridor will cost around Rs 98,000 crore—and places the project in a higher league.

As per the mandate of the committee, its recommendations cannot be overruled by the ministry. In case a ministry does not agree with the recommendations, the matter will go to the Cabinet. “The pace of technological change and of innovations is such that time-honoured government practices and procedures may sometimes not be capable of expeditiously converting ideas into action,” the committee’s mandate says.

Government sources said what is lacking in the current way the high-speed railway dream is being pursued is a broad, cohesive vision. Corridors have been sanctioned in piecemeal and studies have been commissioned in the past. A proper vision document for India’s proposed 10,000-km of high-speed railway aspirations, therefore, is to be prepared in consonance with the government’s overall policy of development and transport evolution.

The first high-speed link, whose final report by Japan was submitted in July, has been lying in Railway Board’s perusal process. Although JICA has proposed to lend money at very cheap rates to fund the project, a bulk of the funding will have to come from the government. This is not a decision that could have been taken by railway ministry alone.

The first project, whose economic rate of return is pegged at upwards of 12 per cent even though the financial rate of return in below 4 per cent (Railways considers a project financially viable only if has a rate of return of 14 and above), would have anyway required some heavy handholding by top offices. The newly formed Empowered Committee on Innovative Collaborations, vested with the appropriate powers, is expected to do exactly that, sources said.
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Thursday, 5 November 2015

07:49

PMO zeroes in on Railways to implement PM’s Economic Agenda

PMO zeroes in on Railways to implement PM’s Economic Agenda

Railways to be pushed back on track:  PMO nudges Railways to push Implementation of Projects. Prime Minister also zeroes in on Railways to implement his Economic Agenda

PMO review of Rail sector

New Delhi: With the railways lagging behind in its plan capital expenditure in the first six months of the current fiscal, the Prime Minister’s Office has asked the national transporter to accelerate project implementation, which could be key to economic growth revival in the country.

To take stock of the performance of the railways, Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the PM, on Monday held a review meeting with Railway Board chairman A K Mittal, Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal and NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar. Sources said the PMO pushed for speeding up of projects including a high-speed rail corridor, dedicated freight corridor, priority projects, electrification, doubling of tracks, gauge conversion and station redevelopment programme. Special emphasis was given to increase in project implementation under the public-private-partnership, built-operate-transfer and and annuity routes.

On many occasions, finance minister Arun Jaitley had emphasised on public capital expenditure, especially by the railways, to boost economic activity. If the railways spends R1 lakh crore in FY16 (52% more than last year) on creation of assets, it would have a multiplier effect on the economy as various other sectors such as steel, cement, employment and so on, would get a boost.

The railways alone accounts for 30% of the Centre’s Budget capital spending of Rs 1.35 lakh crore in FY16. Including Rs 40,000-crore budgetary assistance, the railways’ ambitious plan spending will be used to de-congest existing super saturated corridors, doubling works, laying of new lines and electrification projects. While the Centre’s plan capital expenditure was scaled up to Rs 82,818 crore or 61.2% of the full year target, railways has come up as a laggard spending only Rs 15,552 crore or 39% of the transporter’s capital spending from budgetary sources. It was even lower than Rs 17,359 crore spent from budgetary source in the year ago period.

The railways’ spending through various investment funds — which are basically of the asset replenishment kind — was significantly lower in H1FY16 than a year ago. Plan spending from extra-Budget resources (EBR) — tapping the market, LIC, multilateral agencies and global pension funds — showed a modest improvement from last year, but was far from what the annual targets would have demanded. EBR Plan spending was just Rs 6,586 crore, or 16% of the full-year estimate of Rs 40,572 crore, in April-September. This compared with Rs 5,483 crore in H1FY15. In all, the railways, targeting an operating ratio of 88.5% this year against last year’s 91.8%, reported Plan spending of Rs 32,851 crore in the first half of this year, marginally lower than a year ago Rs 32,952 crore. In addition to this is the PPP segment  read private investment) and the railways claims that works are being expedited on PPP projects and investments to the tune of Rs 19,000 crore are expected in the next three years. (Outside the Plan Budget are Rs 17,000-crore worth of projects awarded for the Dedicated Freight Corridor, or DFC, recently; DFC projects of an equal size are set to be awarded in the second half of the year.)

Even though analysts are skeptical about the railways meeting the Plan spending target this year, sources in the rail ministry said a jump in award of new projects in recent months would get reflected in capital spending in the coming months.

Fast-tracking
  • With the railways lagging behind in its plan capital expenditure in the first six months of the current fiscal, the Prime Minister’s Office has asked the national transporter to accelerate project implementation, which could be key to economic growth revival in the country
  • The PMO pushed for speeding up of projects including a high-speed rail corridor, dedicated freight corridor, priority projects, electrification, doubling of tracks, gauge conversion and station redevelopment programme
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Thursday, 15 October 2015

06:50

Ahead of NITI Aayog Nod, IR mulls Tenders for 77 Rail Projects

Ahead of NITI Aayog Nod, IR mulls Tenders for 77 Rail Projects

New Delhi: Struggling to meet deadlines for the execution of 77 rail projects announced in the Budget, the Railway board is now considering a proposal to permit the Railways to invite tenders even for projects awaiting in-principle approval from NITI Aayog.

The Railway Board announced this in an order to all 17 zonal railways last week, stating that the proposal was under consideration so as to further accelerate execution of 77 doubling projects.

“The proposal is at a very advanced stage and is likely to be approved within a couple of working days. Zonal railways will be informed as and when the same is approved,” said the order issued on October 9.

Providing a list of 13 projects sent to NITI Aayog, the board asked zonal railways to be ready to float tenders for such projects. The projects include one each in on the east coast, east central, south western, two in south-eastern, three in south central and five in south-east central.

The Prime Minister’s Office had expressed concern over the slow pace of work in the Railways. In a letter to the ministry last week, the Prime Minister’s Office questioned its low budgetary spending in the April-June quarter while ministries such as road transport were doing good work. The Railway Board in August allowed zonal railways to float tenders immediately after ‘in-principle’ approval was received from NITI Aayog with sanction from the competent authority to be sought later. The idea was that these projects were to be completed with funds from extra budgetary resources and needed to be commenced at the earliest to make significant progress in the current financial year.

“Therefore in order to facilitate taking up of these projects in right earnest, it has been decided that since DPR (detailed project report) contains detailed estimate of a project duly approved by the General Manager of the Railway, the same stand sanctioned as and when the project is sanctioned by the competent authority,” said the order.

The board has also warned officials to take utmost care while preparing estimates for the projects to ensure that infructuous items are not loaded on the project.
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Saturday, 26 September 2015

09:03

Why is PMO concerned over railways' performance?

Why is PMO concerned over railways' performance?

Data shows Railways spent around 20.8% of the total budgetary support in Q1, down from 27% last fiscal

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked the railways ministry to hasten key projects and highlighted concern over spending from the budgetary support, referring to “less than satisfactory performance” in some areas in a letter written earlier this month, according to a media report.

The prime minister’s principal secretary, Nripendra Misra, has highlighted in a note written to the ministry that in the first quarter ended June, the railways spent only 20 per cent of the Rs 40,000-crore gross budgetary support (GBS) provided by the Centre for the financial year. He also wrote about the slow progress of station development and high-speed rail projects. A ministry spokesperson refused to confirm the note.

GBS refers to the government’s support to a central plan. The GBS received from the finance ministry accounts for a major chunk of the rail ministry’s Plan outlay. Indian Railways plans to spend Rs 1 lakh crore in the current financial year. About 40 per cent (Rs 40,000 crore) of this would be GBS.

A Business Standard analysis shows the transporter, in the first quarter of the current financial year, utilised 20.8 per cent (Rs 8,335 crore) of the total GBS (Rs 40,000 crore). In the corresponding period last year (April-June 2014), the ministry had utilised 27 per cent (Rs 8,334 crore) of the GBS of Rs 30,100 crore.

The data also show spending on track renewals dipped to Rs 1,237 crore in the first quarter, from Rs 1,661 crore in the corresponding period last year; spending on gauge conversion dipped from Rs 720 crore to Rs 690 crore; and expenditure on rolling stock declined from Rs 970 crore to Rs 308 crore.

However, money spent on construction of new lines rose from Rs 1,215 crore to Rs 1,557 crore; expenditure on doubling rose from Rs 780 crore to Rs 1,045 crore; and the lease payments for assets rose from Rs 2,752 crore to Rs 3,007 crore. The total Plan expenditure, that includes capital spending from the GBS and four railway funds  — Depreciation Reserve Fund, Development Fund, Capital Fund and Railway Safety Fund — increased 11.5 per cent to Rs 13,977 crore in the first quarter.

For the high-speed rail corridor to be set up between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the ministry is currently working on a feasibility and survey report submitted by Japan International Cooperation Agency in July. Another feasibility report is currently being prepared by Chinese agencies for the planned Delhi-Chennai corridor.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in July approved a station redevelopment plan for 400 top category stations on the Swiss challenge model of public-private partnership projects.

PMO TO RAIL MINISTRY
  • The PM’s principal secretary in a note to the railways ministry said in the first quarter ended June, the railways spent only 20% of the gross budgetary support provided by the Centre for the current financial year
  • He also wrote about the slow progress of station development and the high-speed rail projects
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Wednesday, 5 August 2015

09:44

Public Investment Board Nod crucial for Lucknow Metro funding

PIB Nod crucial for Lucknow Metro funding

Lucknow: UP government will be making a strong pitch for the Lucknow metro rail before the public investment board (PIB) of Union finance ministry on Thursday for approval of the multi-crore-rupee project funded through foreign agencies.

Sources in the state government said a team led by UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan and principal secretary (housing and urban planning) Sadakant is likely to apprise the board of the project’s existing status for the much needed clearance that could pave way for funds not only from Centre but also from foreign agencies.

Sources in the state housing department said, with a total estimated cost of over Rs 18,000 crore, the project is not likely to materialise without aid from external agencies. A senior official in the housing department said the state government has been in touch with foreign agencies like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund the project. “But that is not possible if the PIB does not give the due clearance,” the official said.

“Part of the project has already been executed by the state government with its own funds. Now we need Central and external aid to push the project further,” said Sadakant, while speaking to media.

The PIB approval, sources said, would mean LMRC getting over Rs 170 crore from Centre, besides over 20 million Euros from EIB. UP government had in its state budget sanctioned Rs 100 crore for an 8Km priority section stretching between Amausi airport and Charbagh. The UP government has also been planning to marshall funds through long term credit.

Earlier, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had sought intervention of Prime Minister Office (PMO) in a bid to fast-track the project.

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Wednesday, 1 April 2015

07:25

PMO pulls up Railway Ministry over Failure in ensuring Punctuality of Trains

New Delhi: Facing repeated complaints by passengers, the prime minister’s office has pulled up the Railway ministry. According to sources, the PMO has come hard on Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu over his failure in ensuring punctuality of trains.

Sources say that the complaints received by the PMO were being forwarded to the railway ministry on a regular basis from teh past few days and last week, the PMO called Prabhu and told him to follow the same pattern as was followed during emergency when the trains were on time.

After the PMO’s intervention, the traffic officials are said to have dug out parliamentary speeches and records of the emergency to find out whether trains at that time were actually on time or was it merely a myth.

However, quickly reacting to the report, the Railway Ministry has clarified on PMO’s intervention. “It’s my duty to ensure regular monitoring of punctuality of trains. Slackness in the system has to be corrected. Our trains are running on time than they were ten days back. It shouldn’t be linked to any order from the PMO,” Member Traffic Ajay Shukla said.

“We’ve been told that trains ran on time during the Emergency. We are taking out old files from that time to study the patterns of train punctuality. Old records show trains did maintain punctuality of upwards of 90 per cent back then,” said a senior ministry official on condition of anonymity.  This, sources said, comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought an explanation from Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu recently on why trains were running late and punctuality figures were on the decline. Railway officials were also told that the PMO has been receiving frequent complaints from MPs, ministers and citizens about trains running way behind schedule. The complaints were being forwarded to the ministry, and many of them mentioned how punctual trains were during the Emergency.

Since then, Prabhu is learnt to be taking stock of punctuality figures and asset-failure on a daily basis — a first for a Railway Minister in recent years.

The veil over punctuality figures was lifted earlier this month after Railway Board Member (Traffic) Ajay Shukla, in a letter to all zonal railways, warned traffic officers of “wrong reporting” of the figures, which can be done by manually feeding incorrect information about the movement of trains in the central coaching operations information system. This is virtually the same as admitting that figures were being fudged all these years. The punishment for it, the letter says, will be suspension and inter-zonal transfer and other disciplinary action against officers as high as the zonal chief passenger traffic officer.

Since then, the punctuality figures have plummeted which, Rail Bhawan officials believe, is a sign of a decrease in the apparent fudging of punctuality data. While 84.43 per cent punctuality was maintained in March 2014, the figure for the same month now stands at 79 per cent on a nationwide basis. Zonal railways like the Northern Railway saw its punctuality figures come down from 82 per cent to 60 per cent. The figures are expected to drop further in the coming days.

Under fire, the traffic directorate, whose job is to run trains efficiently, has said that asset/equipment failure — like signal malfunction, rolling stock breakdown, overhead equipment failure, etc — contributes a lot to “punctuality loss”, but not all such instances are accurately reported by their engineering counterparts. “The extent of asset failure causing punctuality loss was being hidden behind rosy punctuality data all these years. That will now come to the fore now,” said an official.

A few years ago, trials of ‘data logger’, a system installed by the signalling and telecom branch of the Railways to automatically log running status of trains, were held successfully, but it was never rolled out across India as the traffic directorate voiced cost concerns. Currently, it is active at a few places along High Density Routes like Mughalsarai.
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