Hyderabad: Day after day, the financial status of Indian Railways is deteriorating. The Comptroller- Auditor General's (CAG) latest statistical report submitted to Parliament proves this fact.
Usually, the ratio of expenditure input to gain revenue of a rupee, is calculated as Operating Ratio – OR, in the railway budget. The higher the Operating Ratio, the lower, is said to be the profitability of an organization. That ratio, which reached 96.5 per cent in 2016-17, is expected to be 98.44 per cent next year, indicating the severity of the situation.
In fact, the advance payments towards use of railway cargo services, made by public sector companies like NTPC and IRcON International Limited, to the tune of over Rs.7,000 crore have helped the railways in stalling their revenue deficit of the year, which might even reach an all-time high of 102.66 operating ratios!!
'CAG' advises that in the wake of reaching such peak levels of OR figures in a decade, railways should focus on increasing internal revenue streams. Further, CAG pointed out the railways need not be liberal with its revenue subsidies since most of such subsidies are being mishandled and misused by many.
The 'CAG' report, which claims that there are about three thousand instances of misusing the ‘freedom fighters' quota, poses a straightforward question of how can a ‘special freedom fighter concession apply to a ten-year-old boy?’.
In view of the social welfare obligation of the government, it is inevitable that subsidies be made to the elderly and some other groups, however misuse of such an unsolicited boon by the crooks, should not be borne by the railways, and all the loop holes leading to such activity must be closed quickly!
Indian railways, on an average ply 2.22 crores of passengers in around 22,000 trains per day, to their destinations, such that it forms a progressive lifeline of the nation’s economical and social development.
According to the Sudeep Bandopadhyay Standing Committee Report, although the number of passengers increased by 1344 per cent and freight services by 1642 per cent between 1950-2016, the increase in railway network was limited to just 23 per cent.
Compounding pressure on inadequacy of half a dozen facilities on one side and improper design of non-prioritized schemes and programs on the other, have taken a toll on the financial status of Indian railways.
Read more:NEFT transactions to be available 24x7 from Dec 16
Until about 2 years ago, the railway gangmen / trackmen who were supposed to be guarding the rail tracks between the stations, are, unfortunately made to guard and labour at the residences of higher-officials, hoping to be in their good books and looks!!
Modi government promised earlier that his government will give priority to bring about transparency and development in the most important networking tool of the nation - the Indian Railway Network and fortunately, they have also made slight progress!!
To start with, the size of the railway board had been brought down by 25%. The South Central Railway, as part of cost-reduction, have introduced and implemented the usage of 'HOG’ (Head-On-Generation) technology in around eleven trains thereby reducing their expenditure from Rs.35 crores to Rs.6 crores.
Indian Railways plans to cut costs by using LED bulbs in place of the tube lights, being used currently. While this kind of savings is welcome, internal revenue growth initiatives, as 'CAG' suggests, should be more actively promoted. As important it is to reduce unaccounted for and unwanted expenditure, it is also important to improve upon managerial proportions, service dwelling, travel safety, speed and modern amenities.
'CAG' has previously analyzed that though the Indian Railways' monetary norm is to earn a minimum of 14 % net return (post operating expenditure) on any of the investment proposed, 70% of their projects are not viable enough for the said net returns.
The determination to adapt railways to the needs of tomorrow and the immature proprietary method of achieving a meaningful balance between revenue and expenditure, have ended up the railway management to run after just popular policies for decades. To pay homage to the economic viability of railways; The derailment of the rails, the narrow bridges at which the momentum collapses, is the main reason for the ineffective signalling systems to flourish!
Two years after the 'CAG' was introduced to prevent travellers from using food products, expired products and unauthorized water bottles for human consumption - improper sales were completely out of control.
India is the largest railway system in the world after the US, China and Russia - but the modernization of the place has left the intersection intact. As they make their mark on the timelines and sophisticated infrastructure hypotheses - Indian Railways are in the offing.
The country is still mocked by decades of inventive designs and inventions of competent control command systems. Bibek Debroy, a member of Niti Aayog, suggested that the initial changes to prevent political interference in the Indian Railways and rejuvenate the system with professional competence should accelerate the appreciation of commuters.
The Great Action Plan that enhances the image and financial viability of the Railways contribute to the emergence of 'Sreshtabharat'!
