Mamata unlikely to hike passenger fares
PTI
NEW DELHI, FEB 24
Railways are unlikely to carry out any major changes in passenger fares in the Rail Budget for the eighth year in succession, even as more than 100 new trains could be announced, including a dozen non-stop Durontos.
The Rail Budget 2011-12, to be presented in Lok Sabha tomorrow, could also find mention of mega base kitchens in the metros preparing 50,000 to one lakh meals per day for train passengers. This would be managed by the railway itself as per the new catering policy, sources said.
Rail Minister Mamata Banerjee, facing assembly elections in West Bengal in two months, could also announce a slew of projects for her State, including a rail link connecting the busy Howrah and Sealdah stations running through the densely populated central districts of Kolkata.
Catering to the student community, she could also announce running of student special trains keeping in mind the travel requirement during examinations and trains with only bookings under Tatkal scheme.
A multi-mode transport system between Hyderabad and Secunderabad is likely to find a mention in the budget along with capacity enhancement of the Mumbai suburban rail
system.
Banerjee could also announce measures to step up work on the dedicated Rail Freight Corridors project which is lagging behind schedule, while the national transporter would continue to maintain the dynamic pricing policy in freight.
Finance Ministry is likely to grant Rs 20,000 crore as gross budgetary support though the Railways had sought about Rs 39,000 crore from the Centre, the sources said.
As a last ditch effort, Banerjee has reached out to the Planning Commission for approval of many of her pet projects even as the former is understood to be hesitant in accepting
most of them.
The sources said the commission has accepted 14 of the 40 rail projects which she had planned to announce during the Rail Budget.
An SMS-based service for passengers to lodge complaints against rail services is also likely to be announced.
The sources said the number 132 is being finalised for lodging complaints through SMS from anywhere in the country. Like the inquiry number 131, the new number 132 will be an all-India service.
