The pet rhetoric of the Trinamul Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, and of her lieutenants has been bad governance or lack of governance of the Left Front government. She is joined by her intellectual friends in denouncing the incumbent government. She has been promising good governance to the people of West Bengal if she is elected as the Chief Minister. She has promised to bring about “administrative reforms”. Now the question is should we believe her when she says that she will provide us with a better and more efficient administration? Her sycophants say that she should be given a chance to prove her mettle. Can we, the people of Bengal, take that risk? 
Not after seeing what she has done to the railways in the nineteen months that she has been at the helm of affairs at the Rail Bhavan. All the leading national newspapers and magazines are saying in unison that the railways are in the doldrums, “bankrupt” to be precise. The railway, under her, has gone completely off-track and is headed towards a sudden decline.
Indian Railways Operating Ratio (OR), which is an indicator of efficiency, has already crossed 95 percent, higher than the budget estimate of 92 percent. It is likely to be highest in recent times. This means that the Railways would be spending more than Rs. 95 to earn every Rs. 100. The best OR in recent times was in 2007-08 when it spent as little as Rs. 75.9 to earn Rs.100. The Railways reserves are at its lowest in recent years at Rs. 5,000 crore. But this does not stop the irrepressible minister from announcing one project after another involving a few thousand crores.
During the year 2007-08 the cumulative cash surpluses of the Railways before dividend had amounted to Rs. 68,778 crore. The cash surplus has been projected at a meager Rs. 1,328 crore in the Rail Budget for 2010-11. Mamata Banerjee has very deftly managed to reduce the impressive cash surplus to this paltry amount. The situation is so dire that the Railways had tried to get a five year waiver of dividend starting 2009-10. And let us not forget that when Ms. Banerjee was the Railway Minister during the NDA regime she had demanded a similar waiver. So much for her efficiency as an able administrator!
In the year 2010-11 the Railways had sought a Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs. 15,875 crore. This time they have asked to double the GBS to Rs. 39,600 crore. As per the latest official data the expenditures have gone up by Rs. 1.330 crore while the earnings are down by Rs. 1,142 crore taking the net deficit to Rs. 2,500 crore.
The Minister, has very stubbornly, refused to raise the passenger fares because she does not want to burden the common man. How is the common man affected if the fares of the elite classes of long distance trains are raised is beyond the understanding of the ordinary citizens. If the GBS demanded by her is granted by the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, he would realize it by taxing the aam aadmi. While she does not want to burden her maa mati manus by increasing fares to improve the financial condition of the railways, she cares two hoots if they have to pay additional tax to support her populist budget before the Assembly elections. So desperate is she to grab THE CHAIR.
In the last Union Budget, Banerjee virtually starved the two critical reserves of the Railways - the Development Fund and the Depreciation Reserve Fund – used to purchase and upgrade assets and improve passenger amenities. This definitely is a sign of a bleeding organization. Yet, Ms. Banerjee has gone ahead and announced a revamp of the Kolkata Metro network at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crore.
Mamata Banerjee cannot but blame herself for driving the organization in the red. She has stubbornly refused to raise passenger fares for suburban sections and lower classes on long-distance trains even as the losses from passenger operations were projected to zoom to Rs. 19,120 crore in 2009-10. However, this has not discouraged her from announcing a spate of new trains, thus adding to the losses. Even though she had promised 1,000 km of new lines every year, she has not been able to deliver even 10 percent of that. This should warn us all not to believe any of the promises made by her to the people of Bengal. She is out to take every one for a ride just to realize her dream of sitting on the Chief Minister’s chair. She is a confused person who is driven by just one aim. Therefore, her priorities are all misplaced. She talks a lot about vision but lacks it the most. She has a slapdash approach towards running her ministry. She can only think of her short-term gains and is unmindful of its ramifications on the country.
Not after seeing what she has done to the railways in the nineteen months that she has been at the helm of affairs at the Rail Bhavan. All the leading national newspapers and magazines are saying in unison that the railways are in the doldrums, “bankrupt” to be precise. The railway, under her, has gone completely off-track and is headed towards a sudden decline.
Indian Railways Operating Ratio (OR), which is an indicator of efficiency, has already crossed 95 percent, higher than the budget estimate of 92 percent. It is likely to be highest in recent times. This means that the Railways would be spending more than Rs. 95 to earn every Rs. 100. The best OR in recent times was in 2007-08 when it spent as little as Rs. 75.9 to earn Rs.100. The Railways reserves are at its lowest in recent years at Rs. 5,000 crore. But this does not stop the irrepressible minister from announcing one project after another involving a few thousand crores.
During the year 2007-08 the cumulative cash surpluses of the Railways before dividend had amounted to Rs. 68,778 crore. The cash surplus has been projected at a meager Rs. 1,328 crore in the Rail Budget for 2010-11. Mamata Banerjee has very deftly managed to reduce the impressive cash surplus to this paltry amount. The situation is so dire that the Railways had tried to get a five year waiver of dividend starting 2009-10. And let us not forget that when Ms. Banerjee was the Railway Minister during the NDA regime she had demanded a similar waiver. So much for her efficiency as an able administrator!
In the year 2010-11 the Railways had sought a Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs. 15,875 crore. This time they have asked to double the GBS to Rs. 39,600 crore. As per the latest official data the expenditures have gone up by Rs. 1.330 crore while the earnings are down by Rs. 1,142 crore taking the net deficit to Rs. 2,500 crore.
The Minister, has very stubbornly, refused to raise the passenger fares because she does not want to burden the common man. How is the common man affected if the fares of the elite classes of long distance trains are raised is beyond the understanding of the ordinary citizens. If the GBS demanded by her is granted by the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, he would realize it by taxing the aam aadmi. While she does not want to burden her maa mati manus by increasing fares to improve the financial condition of the railways, she cares two hoots if they have to pay additional tax to support her populist budget before the Assembly elections. So desperate is she to grab THE CHAIR.
In the last Union Budget, Banerjee virtually starved the two critical reserves of the Railways - the Development Fund and the Depreciation Reserve Fund – used to purchase and upgrade assets and improve passenger amenities. This definitely is a sign of a bleeding organization. Yet, Ms. Banerjee has gone ahead and announced a revamp of the Kolkata Metro network at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crore.
Mamata Banerjee cannot but blame herself for driving the organization in the red. She has stubbornly refused to raise passenger fares for suburban sections and lower classes on long-distance trains even as the losses from passenger operations were projected to zoom to Rs. 19,120 crore in 2009-10. However, this has not discouraged her from announcing a spate of new trains, thus adding to the losses. Even though she had promised 1,000 km of new lines every year, she has not been able to deliver even 10 percent of that. This should warn us all not to believe any of the promises made by her to the people of Bengal. She is out to take every one for a ride just to realize her dream of sitting on the Chief Minister’s chair. She is a confused person who is driven by just one aim. Therefore, her priorities are all misplaced. She talks a lot about vision but lacks it the most. She has a slapdash approach towards running her ministry. She can only think of her short-term gains and is unmindful of its ramifications on the country.
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| Source: The Hindu |
Ms. Banerjee is well-known for doing her own thing. She rarely, if not never, takes any advice even if it is from the Prime Minister, or the Finance Minister or the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. In the run-up to the last budget the Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, had raised objections to several projects since she had not got the mandatory clearance from the Planning Commission. But that did not stop her from going ahead and laying the foundation stones for those projects. Everything to garner votes in order to become the Chief Minister.
We, the thinking people of West Bengal, will have to see through the game plans of the TMC leader who also happens to be a Cabinet Minister. She has played havoc with the railways in just nineteen months. Should we allow her to do the same with our state? It is time we pondered on this.
Source: Indian Express, India Today, Business Line, Economic Times
A true picture of railways . This is an eye opener to those who still expecting a miracle from Mamta Benerjee.
ReplyDeleteGanesh Choudhary
Kalyani , Nadia
As if raising the fares would solve all problems?
ReplyDelete