Railway minister Lalu Prasad would settle for nothing less than a perfect century to round off his innings in Rail Bhavan. Over the last four years his ministry has created a revenue surplus of Rs 68,812 crore. Add the current years's budget estimate of Rs 24,783 crore to that, and the surplus is just Rs 7,000 crore short of the century mark-of one hundred thousand crores of rupees. So the minister's simple orders to the ministry-squeeze out the missing Rs 7,000 crore from the system. This would mean raising the cash surplus target for this fiscal to Rs 31,000 crore."The minister in a recent meeting asked us to rework our internal targets for cash surplus to Rs 31,000 crore," a top Rail Bhavan official revealed. The ministry full steam on the mission, reviewing estimated earnings from its all four business heads-freight, passenger, other coaching and sundry. But officials aren't too sure about meeting the minister's numbers. "With freight and passenger businesses doing well, we expect the cash surplus to increase to about Rs 28,000 crore this fiscal. But it's highly unlikely that we will be able to touch Rs 31,000 crore," an official said.
With diesel prices on flare, the Railways' fuel bill could shoot up by Rs 650 crore this fiscal. To meet the higher bill, the ministry had announced a special surcharge of 5%, but rolled it back later. It now plans to trim freight discounts on many items and routes to cut expenses.
With diesel prices on flare, the Railways' fuel bill could shoot up by Rs 650 crore this fiscal. To meet the higher bill, the ministry had announced a special surcharge of 5%, but rolled it back later. It now plans to trim freight discounts on many items and routes to cut expenses.
