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- By Parinda News Bureau, February 25, 2006, 11:53 IST
New Delhi: Cash rich Railway Minister Lalu Prasad came up with a dream Budget on Friday: he refrained from raising fares and freight and instead spread largesse like a feudal king, heralding low-cost air-conditioned travel. However, he ignored his rural constituency and gave no relief to the second class traveler. Mumbai was also not a part of his scheme of things.
The mantra that Lalu has pejfected in his third consecutive budget is that "of not increasing tariffs but reaching the benefits of reduced costs to customers."
Taking on low-fare airlines that have weaned away the AC first class passenger, the Railway Minister reduced AC first class fare by 18 per cent and AC second class fares by 10 per cent. The minister, however, tried to make a virtue out of necessity by creating an impression that he was extending a big concession to the middle class rail traveler.
Possibly taking a cue from BJP leader L K Advani's rath yatra, he announced the introduction of a fully air-conditioned "Garib Rath" that will initially include four pairs of services with fares 25 per cent lower than that of AC-III tier. The once-a-week "Garib Rath" will chug from Delhi to Mumbai, Chennai and Patna; the fourth will be twice-a-week train between Amritsar and Saharsa in Bihar, possibly to cater to the demand of migrant labourers.
The minister has further rationalised passenger tariff structure, so that the fares of AC-I and AC-II class would be 11.5 times and 6.5 times higher than that of the Second Class. To reduce queues at booking counters, 800 additional ticketing centres would be opened, charges levied on E-tickets reduced, and E-ticket would now be available through service agents. Practically, there will be no need to stand in queues to book your tickets now.
Lalu has introduced 55 pairs of new trains, extended services of 37 and the frequency of 12 while re-routing two trains. A loud protest, however, erupted on the opposition benches and continued throughout the Budget speech, ignoring Lalu's assertion that "every state has been covered." The opposition felt that the minister had been partial towards Bihar, a concern that was shared by the Left as Kolkata has been left out of the East-West corridor.
The only hike in the Budget is in the parcel rates, varying from 15 to 25 per cent, on account of rationalisation.
Visibly excited over the Railways' overflowing coffers that have touched a record Rs 11,000 crores in the current year, the mass transit system is finally out of the "terminal debt trap." No wonder Lalu proudly declared: "We are striving to realise the Prime Minister's dream of making Indian Railways No 1 in the world."
A beginning will be made with four popular trains acquiring world-class passenger amenities and interiors in 2006-07.
Another step in this direction is a dynamic pricing policy that he has introduced for fares and freight. Under this, there will be different fares for peak and non-peak seasons, for premium and non-premium services, and for busy and non-busy routes. If you want to travel on cheaper tickets, Lalu offers two slots of non-peak seasons — from January 15 to April 15 and another from July 15 to September 15. For freight, the non-peak season is from July 1 to October 31.
Noting that there has not been any increase in fare or freight in his third consecutive budget, Lalu became lyrical: 'Aam admi hee amara devta hai, vah jeetega toh hum bhi jeet payenge, tabhi toh yeh tay karke baithey hain, faisle ab usi ke hak mein jaayenge." He is thus offering discounts up to 30 per cent in freight during non-peak season, a loyalty discount to encourage transportation of cement, iron and steel, a mini rake scheme for small loaders and long-term freight discounts to attract new customers. Among rural folks, Lalu remembered only his tribe of milk producers and farmers and extended them a 50% concession in sleeper class for traveling to a training institute of national repute.
The only other category that has been extended 50 per cent concession in second class fare is those with physical infirmity travelling for transplantation of artificial limbs. An attendant can also avail of a similar concession.
Lalu is also embarking upon privatisation by introducing licenses through open bidding to provide "on-board services" to the passengers, which will also be made available to mail and express trains without pantry cars. He also announced expansion of the a pilot project started this year to upgrade retiring rooms, waiting rooms, station buildings, lavatories etc under public-private partnership.
Lalu has promised to provide ATMs and cyber cafes at all major stations and revamping of "A" and "B" category stations. He further announced renovation of all aged tracks and bridges. Lalu took pride in pointing out that the number of consequential accidents had come down from 473 in 2001 to 234 in 2004-05 and gave full credit for this to acumen, devotion and determination of lakhs of railwaymen.
On the freight front, there has been rationalisation of goods tariff and the number of commodity groups has been reduced from 80 to just 28.
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