The dust of controversy has settled over the Railway Budget 2012-13. Dinesh Trivedi is out and Mukul Roy is in as Union Railway Minister. It would seem to be an internal matter of the Trinamool Party. But there are wheels within wheels on Indian Rail. Mukul Roy’s first step has been just as expected. He has rolled back the fare hikes in all classes except AC 1st Class and AC 2-tier. The fare rise has been revoked for second class suburban, non-suburban, general, sleeper, AC Chair Car and AC 3-tier classes. It will certainly be a relief to the masses as well as middle class people reeling under the price rise. Roy has also put on hold the proposal to set up a committee to examine whether there should be an independent tariff regulatory authority and scrapped the proposed expansion of the Railway Board. The official estimate is that Mukul Roy’s decision to roll back the hike in passenger fares will cost the exchequer about Rs. 3,800 crore.
The reaction of the Congress and other parties except the Left has not yet been disclosed. The Trinamool members in Parliament unequivocally welcomed Roy’s decision. It may however be recalled that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described Trivedi’s budget as “forward looking”. Trivedi’s budget was more concerned about Railway safety. He argued that it could not be done without modernisation and that it was not possible to bring about modernisation without reserves. Trinamool MP Derek O’ Brien said that the argument that Rs. 4000 crore would solve all problems of safety was facetious. There is some truth in it. On the other hand, a zero-sum will lead to the old rut and the frequency of train accidents with heavy casualties in the last few years is a matter of grave concern. How can Railways raise revenue from non-conventional sources? Government subsidy to Railways will further hike inflation and the aam aadmi will suffer. The Railway staff may also have grievances. All said and done, Mamata Banerjee has won a victory for populism. How Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presents the case in the debate in parliament remains to be seen.
