Calling upon the Finance Ministry to provide adequate gross budgetary support to the Railways given its socio-economic commitments, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways has expressed apprehension about lessening of Parliamentary control and oversight responsibilities over the public service obligation of the national transporter.

Rather than taking a bottoms-up approach and projecting the needs and requirements of the Railways, there might be directives from the Finance Ministry due to fiscal consolidation or deficit, and the Railways might have to forego its own priority areas, the committee has stated in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The panel also raised questions about the new organisational structure of the Railways, and wanted to know if the Railway Ministry will be headed by a Secretary or if the Railway Board would continue in its present form.

Drop in revenues

The committee, which took note of the drop in actual railway revenues against the budgeted numbers, also sought to maintain adequate operational revenue to meet revenue expenditure, especially since 40 per cent of Railway staff is over 50 years old and needs to be provided pension.

In the light of the Railway budget increasingly drawing excessive populism, especially in matter of fare fixation and selecting and funding of projects, the committee wanted to know of the change in its priorities while selecting projects – including the fate of the existing pending and non-remunerative projects in various categories – given that the responsibility of socio-economic development will lie with the Ministry.

It may be noted that the Ministry will not get subsidy on capital acquired through extra budgetary resources, a step that arises out of the dividend being done away with.

Safety fund

The committee has also termed the manner of fund allocation to the special railway safety non-lapsable fund — Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) — as a “jugglery of finances”. It opined that instead of appropriating separate funds to RRSK, diverting the amount already provided to the Railways in the Central Road Fund and Depreciation Reserve Fund is not a matter of financial prudence but “jugglery of finances.”

From the ₹20,000 crore safety fund allocated in 2017-18, ₹5,000 crore is from budgetary support, ₹10,000 crore from railway safety fund (Railways share of Central Road Fund), ₹4,000 crore from Depreciation Reserve Fund and ₹1,000 crore from revenue surplus.