RAILWAYS BUDGET 2008
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Lalu's Chak De! Budget cuts fares, freight rates
Published on Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 11:23, Updated on Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 11:28 in section
Tags: Union Budget 2008, Rail Budget , New Delhi
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New Delhi: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had promised that he would present a Budget that would help the common man and he has done just that.
Second class ticket fares for travel beyond 50 km have been cut by 5 per cent, Lalu announced in his fifth Railways Budget on Tuesday.
Ticket fares for Third AC have been cut by three per cent, fares for Second AC have been cut by 4 per cent and fares for First AC have been cut by seven per cent. A one rupee discount will be given per passenger for fares up to Rs 50 in non-suburban second class fares.
Ticket concession for senior women citizens has been extended from 30 to 50 per cent in all classes. The scheme of providing free season tickets in Second class to students has been extended. Girls up to graduation and boys up to Class XII will now get free season tickets in Second class.
Chak De Railways, and me: Lalu
"We have created an organisation where every child in this country will say chak de Railways. Everybody is happy with the Railways,” said Lalu in his speech, which declared that his department had a cash surplus Rs 25,000 crore for 2008-2009.
Lalu rattled off statistics to show how he had turned the railways around in the past four years
Among the major claims he made was that freight traffic target of 785 million tonnes has been exceeded and it has touched 790 million tonnes. He insisted that railway plan size has increased from Rs 11,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore in the last four years. He also used the first part of the budget to praise himself.
"Everybody is appreciating that I have done tremendous work," he said while congratulating Railways employees for their work.
New trains, new services
The minister announced several steps that will involve large-scale modernisation of services to benefit passengers. As many as 53 new trains and 10 new Garibraths will be introduced in 2008-2009. As many 16 pairs of trains will be extended and the frequency of another 11 pair will be increased.
Automatic ticket vending machines will be increased to 6,000 in the next two years, up from 250 now.
As many as 195 stations will get foot over-bridges, 50 big stations will have escalators and lifts and 30 major stations will get multi-level car parking facilities.
Railway tickets will announce the expected arrival time of trains and there is also a plan to use mobile phone services to book and confirm tickets.
Display boards in trains will announce stations ahead, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will have more modern coaches, housekeeping in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will be outsourced and 560 railway platforms will be lengthened to accommodate more trains, he said.
The experimental ‘green’ toilets on trains will be now be extended to all coaches across the railways. Rs 4,000 crore will be spent on these toilets.
The railways will implement schemes that will ensure there are no queues for tickets in two years, he said.
Lalu began his Budget by placating Opposition MP from Karnataka who alleged that he had made offensive remarks against their state.
"I have made a prime minister from Karnataka," the minister said amid laughter, referring to the support he gave to H D Deve Gowda in forming a government.
"This budget will mark the beginning of our vision for Indian Railways over the next 25 years. We will take Indian Railways to new heights - make it the world's best," he said a few hours before his scheduled speech.
With elections due in a series of states and general elections due in a year's time, expectations were once again high for a people-friendly rail Budget, which had been Lalu Prasad's mantra on the previous four occasions.
Earlier both Houses were adjourned minutes after Opposition members demanded a discussion on distressed farmers committing suicide.
Lalu, who has reached Parliament, was to begin his Budget speech at 1100 hrs, IST. With polls due in a series of states and general elections due in a year's time, expectations were once again high for a people-friendly rail budget, which had been Lalu Prasad's mantra on the previous four occasions.
“Railways is the lifeline of this country and meant for the common man. When I sit down to make the Budget my first priority is the common man. In my past four Budgets I have always kept the aam aadmi (common man) in mind,” he told CNN-IBN before leaving for Parliament.
"This budget will mark the beginning of our vision for Indian Railways over the next 25 years. We will take Indian Railways to new heights - make it the world's best," Lalu said.
The increase in both passenger earnings and freight revenues during this fiscal, of around 13 per cent so far, is expected to give him enough room to focus on expansion of the network - the world's second largest under a single management.
"One thing stands clearly proven in these four years - by just increasing fares, you cannot improve the state of railways," Lalu Prasad had told IANS ahead of the last budget for the current tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
The Indian Railways run more than 11,000 trains every day - 7,000 for passengers - over 108,706 track km, to ferry an estimated 14 million passengers from 6,853 stations across the length and breadth of the country.
This is the only ministry that has a separate budget outside the national budget that will be presented by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Friday to cover the finances for the next fiscal year.
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URBANEYE
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My dear Friend, whatever you said is correct but then thats the way from where money is coming to railways,
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Can anybody tell when will these new Garib rath start ?
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So your comment makes me think that u never travel by train. I think u forget your own people of
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LALU LAL YADAV ??PM OF INDIA MP REDDY- HAVE YOU NOT NOTICED THERE IS NO VACANCY FOR LONGTIME TIME TO
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How can anyone fool so many people repeatedly?The entire credit to the so called achievements should be given to the
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