The Hindu : Business : Industry hails Railway budget as ‘pragmatic’

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Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008
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Industry hails Railway budget as ‘pragmatic’

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: AFP

TOWARDS WORLD-CLASS: A passenger waits to board a train at the New Delhi Railway Station on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: With the proposals virtually going beyond its expectations, Indian industry lapped up the Railway Budget 2008-09 presented by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday, as “pragmatic, progressive and futuristic” budget that would help strengthen and expand traffic handling capacity of the institution.

“The Railway Budget has attempted to address the transport requirement of an expanding Indian economy. The Minister has introduced several new procedures which will facilitate private sector participation in the Railways, particularly in design and development of new models of wagons,” FICCI President, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said.

Hailing the cut in passenger fares and freight rates, particularly on diesel and petrol by 5 per cent, he said, “This is a good and strong anti-inflationary measure”.

Assocham President, Venugopal Dhoot, termed the budget as “pragmatic, progressive and futuristic” and said that the proposals such as reduction in freight rates and rail fare would help the railways attract more traffic.

Welcoming the partnership with the private sector, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President, Sunil Mittal, said it would open yet another avenue for the industry to participate in the spectacular growth of the Indian Railways.

The reduction in freight rate for petrol and diesel by 5 per cent and on fly ash by 14 per cent will help offset the impact of the hike in fuel prices, he added.

PHDCCI Chief, L. K. Malhotra, complemented the Railway Minister for continuing with the financial turnaround of the Railways and improvement in many parameters. He, however, felt that the Railway Budget had failed to take strategic measures to capture a substantially larger share of growing goods traffic.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations President, Ganesh Gupta, termed the use of information technology for passenger convenience as the hallmark of the budget and the decision to import wagons to bridge the supply-demand gap was also a pragmatic step.

Wagon industry happy

Our Kolkata Correspondent writes:

Businesses associated with the railways are happy that the budget has given them a good boost.

The Rs. 75,000 crore that has been reserved for infrastructure upgradation over the next seven years will give a big thrust to businesses and organisations associated with the Indian Railways.

The sanction of the work on the Eastern Corridor between Ludhiana in Punjab and Dankuni near Kolkata in West Bengal and the western corridor between Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port will give a big boost to infrastructure development, feels the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Industry feels that the proposed upgradation of the Railway Wagon Workshop at Liluah, West Bengal, as part of a Rs. 200 crore modernisation package, is a good move.

By allowing wagon makers to improve technology and designs, the Railway Minister has indeed taken a major step towards modernising the Indian wagon industry, according to Pawan Ruia, Chairman, Jessop and Co.

The reduction in freight rates for petrol and diesel will help neutralise the effect of the recent hike in prices, said Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

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