Union Budget 2017: Railway safety gets large allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore
The fund will cover upgradation of tracks, signalling besides elimination of unmanned level crossings.
New Delhi: With Railways plagued by repeated derailments, the government on Wednesday proposed setting up of a special safety fund of Rs 1 lakh crore that will cover upgradation of tracks and signalling besides elimination of unmanned level crossings.
The Railway Budget, merged with General Budget 2017-18, also provides for commissioning of new railway lines of 3,500 km will against 2,800 kms in 2016-17.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the plan size for the next fiscal for the Railways at Rs 1,31,000 crore as against Rs 1.21 lakh crore last year. He proposed creation of ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ (National Rail Safety Fund) with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Emphasising on safety, the Budget proposed elimination of all unmanned level crossings on the broad gauge network by 2020. Addressing concerns of the differently-abled persons, Mr Jaitley announced that 500 stations would be made disbaled friendly.
The Budget also promised to equip all coaches with bio-toilets and announced “Clean my coach' app for the passengers. In order to encourage e-ticketing, Mr Jaitley announced withdrawal of the service charges from tickets booked through IRCTC. Railway PSUs IRCTC, IRFC and Concor are to be listed on various stock exchanges.
The budget has allotted a lion’s share of '3.95 lakh crore for infrastructure development, terming it as a top priority area for the government. Mr Jaitley said the magnitude of investment in the space is bound to spur growth.
Mr Jaitley said, “total allocation for infrastructure stands at a record level Rs 3,96,135 crore in 2017-18.” The allocation for infrastructure in 2016-17 budgetary estimate was Rs 3,48,952 crore which was revised to Rs 3,58,634 crore. He said infrastructure was the thrust area of the government for efficiency, productivity and quality of life.
Railways to focus on safety, cleanliness
Presenting the Union budget 2017, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said he feels proud to present the first combined budget. “Railways will focus on passenger safety, cleanliness and developmental works. Rs 1.31 lakh crore for Railways for developmental work, which includes Rs 55,000 crore from Budget,” said Arun Jaitley.
Mr Jaitley also announced that 500 stations will be made for differently-able friendly providing lifts and escalators. He said all service taxes for bookings via IRCTC will be withdrawn. “We will offer competitive ticketing facility and service charge while booking through IRCTC will is withdrawn. Railway related state-run companies like Ircon, IRCTC to be listed on stock exchanges,” the minister said.
‘Coach Mitra’ comes to passengers’ help
Despite its merger with the general budget, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had much to offer to the passengers when he read out the measures and finances for the railways for this fiscal, chief among which were redevelopment of stations, and making stations more disabled friendly.
Passengers will also get cleaner coaches with the Budget announcing a facility called ‘Swachh Rail’. Through this SMS-based service, passengers can inform on the cleanliness status of the coaches.
A separate service called the ‘Coach Mitra’ facility, which will be a single window interface, to register all coach related complaints and requirement has also been launched. Mr Jaitley said that by 2019, all coaches of Indian Railways will be fitted with bio-toilets.