Anil Agrawal (Retired) 18 December 2009

Laloo's rail

I have requested Mamta Banerjee to send a copy of the White Paper to those who came from Wharton, Stanford and Harvard to meet Laloo to see the turnaround of Indian Railways brought about by him.

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Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented a white paper document in Parliament on Friday, giving details of the finances of the Indian Railways and raising concerns over the irregularities perpetrated during the previous tenure.

The performance of railways was "below par" during 2004-05 to 2008-09 when the RJD chief was at the helm of affairs, the White Paper laid by railway minister Mamata Banerjee claimed.

"Analysis of the overall growth of railways during the period shows that the performance was below par if the normally accepted growth elasticity of 1.25 is reckoned," the report, tabled amid din, said.

Prasad was present in the House when the report was laid. Noting that losses from passenger operation was almost Rs 14,000 crore in 2008-09, the document said a new form of presentation of accounts was started during the Lalu regime which projected a concept of cash surplus before dividend which made the Railway finances "look good".

If these presentation changes had not been done, the accumulated surplus of Rs 89,000 crores during the five-year period would come down to Rs 39,500 crore.

This reduction also includes the impact of Pay Commission arrear payments which have been taken to the years in which it actually accrued, the 70-page document said.

Seeking to give a lie to Prasad's claims about his period being the golden era of the Railways, the White Paper said the best period financially in the last 20 years was 1991-96 (when CK Jaffer Sharief was Railway Minister) and "not the last five years."

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6 Replies

Kiran Kumar (Lawyer) 18 December 2009

its just a tip of ice berg.

we dont know whether there will be any transparency in Indian Administration.

(Guest)

Whom to belive? when indian railways were facing huge losses he did good job. IIM appreciated for his management. Shall we belive Mamatha for her statistics ? Next Government will dig out profit and loss account of Mamatha's tenure as a Railway Minister. False accounts and sadist politicians.

(Guest)

Indian Railways, which a few years ago was operating at a loss, has, in recent years, been generating positive cash flows and been meeting its dividend obligations to the government, with (unaudited) operating profits going up substantially. The railway reported a cash surplus of INR 9000 cr in 2005, INR 14000 cr in 2006, INR 20,000 cr in 2007 and INR 25,000 cr for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Its operating ratio improved to 76% while, in the last four years, its plan size increased from INR 13,000 cr to INR 30,000 cr. The proposed investment for the 2008-2009 fiscal year is INR 37,500 cr, 21% more than for the previous fiscal year. Budget Estimates-2008 for Freight, Passenger, Sundry other Earnings and other Coaching Earnings have been kept at INR 52,700 cr, INR 21,681 cr, INR 5,000 cr and INR 2,420 cr respectively. Maintaining an overall double digit growth, Gross Traffic Earnings have been projected as INR 93,159 crore in 2009-10 (19.1 billion USD at current rate), exceeding the revised estimates for the current fiscal by INR 10,766 crore. Around 20% of the passenger revenue is earned from the upper class segments of the passenger segment (the air-conditioned classes).

The Sixth Pay Commission was constituted by the Government of India in 2005 to review the pay structure of government employees, and submitted its recommendations in April 2008. Based on its recommendations, the salaries of all Railways officers and staff were to be revised with retrospective effect w.e.f. January 1, 2006, resulting in an expenditure of over Rs. 13000 crore in 2008-09 and Rs. 14000 crore in 2009-10. Consequently, staff costs have risen from 44% of ordinary working expenses to 52%.

(Guest)

Railway - Lalu Prasad & Their achievements

Indian railway was running in losses since years. It had been taken as granted that this PSU can never be a profit making undertaking for Indian government. But Lalu Prasad Yadav has proven this wrong. He has presented figures where Indian Railway has made profit for year 2004-05. He has also presented 2006 budget with Rs 56,000 cr income and Rs 7000 Cr profit. Look at his amazing initiatives for Indian Railway

# e-ticketing and SMS booking of tickets
# Any holder of a wait-listed ticket can be allotted accommodation in a higher class with no extra charges.
# Tatkal tickets can be booked three days in advance and higher tatkal charges.
# Commercial use of Railway land for food, entertainment and other purpose.
# Surprise checking at railway stations for staff attendance, weights of consignments and etc.
# Name and number of Vigilance officers published in News papers for any complaints.

Lalu Prasad Yadav is a smart man and having capacity of working like a CEO of a company. It is the cast politics of Bihar which forced him to behave like a villager. This fact is acknowledged by IIM - A professor and students. They have noticed the turned around happened with Indian Railway. They visited Lalu Prasad and discussed the topic. They are going to add a case study on Indian Railway in their syllabus.

Anil Agrawal (Retired) 19 December 2009

What a pity that he did not show this smartness in Bihar. It was ruined during his time and the ruin continues.

Bhartiya No. 1 (Nationalist) 20 December 2009

During his period lawlessness was at peak. Industries/bussiness were closed down. Industrialists/bussinessmen migrated to some other part of the country.