Railways prepares action plan to neutralise Pay Commission burden
25 February, New Delhi
Railways has prepared action plan for neutralising additional burden of Rs 28000 crore on account of the Seventh Pay Commission, without effecting a hike in passenger fares and freight.
Addressing mediapersons, Chairman of Railway Board AK Mittal said the Seventh Pay Commission would impose a burden of around Rs 28,000 crore, with around Rs 12,500 crore to go as wages to the employees and about Rs 8,500 would be disbursed to retired employees.
To meet the budgetary demand, for the first time, the Railways would lay focus on financial institution, rather than depending on the Government.The CRB said that Railways had fixed Rs 1,25,000 crore plan outlay for meeting its targets.He added that it was expecting a budgetary support of around Rs 45,000 crore from the Finance Ministry, besides Rs 23,000 crore would come from PSUs or financial institutions and raise Rs 21,700 crore through the Indian Railways Finance Corp (IRFC) bonds.The Railways started last year and this year too, this would go on, the CRB added.
Mittal said Railways was facing a stiff competition from the road sector, which has been moving freight traffic at cheaper rates, adding that Railways would be working in coordination with the roadways as far as freight traffic was concerned.On the reorganisation of Railway Board, Mittal said it would be done with a view to coordinate all the departments. The idea is to have a holding company, which can bring under one umbrella PSUs of the Railways and synergise their strengths to make the Railways function more efficiently.
The main focus of the Railways is on Dedicated Freight Corridors, for which the Railways has proposal for three new corridors. Mittal said the DFCs would help de-stress the already congested lines across the country and help in timely arrival and departure of trains.On the introduction of new trains, Mittal said these trains would run as per the demand, adding that new Tejas, which will operate at a speed of 130 kmph, would be a premium train.