रेल्वे बजेट २०१६ : सुरेश प्रभू यांचे संपूर्ण भाषण

नवी दिल्ली : रेल्वे मंत्री सुरेश प्रभू यांनी आपला दुसरा अर्थसंकल्प आज संसदेत सादर केला. या अर्थसंकल्पात कोणतेही रेल्वे भाडेवाढ नाही की नवीन मोठ्या घोषणा नाही. केवळ सुविधा आणि सुधारणा तसचे संरक्षणावर भर देण्यात आलाय. प्रभू यांचे संपूर्ण भाषण....

Madam Speaker,
1. I rise to present before this August House the Statement of Estimated Receipts and Expenditure for 2016-17 for Indian Railways.

2. Let me begin with a couple of personal experiences. As the Railway Minister of India, I visit a number of places and meet a large number of people from all walks of life. On one visit to Mumbai Central station, I was pleasantly surprised to find a group of women engaged in cleaning. The station looked very clean. On seeing me, a lady came and thanked me for allowing her NGO to adopt the station. For the last five months she had been volunteering a day every month at the station. She said that she felt very happy to be contributing her little bit to this national cause.

3. In another incident, Alok Tiwari, an inspector in the Railway Protection Force, recently deputed to the social media cell of the Railway Board, shared his sentiments. He is responsible for taking action on passengers' requests for help on social media. He said that for the first time in his professional career, he has realised how his little actions were making a huge difference in passengers' lives. He felt enthused and proud to be part of Indian Railways.

4. Madam Speaker, it is people like these who are the soul of India and Indian Railways, and that is why this is not my Budget alone. This is a Budget which reflects the aspirations of each and every member of the Railway family; a Budget that reflects the aspirations of the common citizens of India who have not only been writing to me, interacting with me on social media but also meeting me in large numbers to share their thoughts. This is a Budget that has been fashioned by a creative partnership: with ideas from my colleagues in Parliament, industry associations, commuter associations, media and practically all sections of the society. I would like to thank each one of you. But above all, this Budget owes its inspiration to the vision and leadership of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. He had once said, "My vision is to make railways the backbone of India's progress and economic development."

We are making all out efforts to translate his vision into reality. Our core objective is to improve the quality of customer experience at the individual level, become an engine of employment generation and economic growth at the national level and convert India's largest institution into a template for
transformation.

"यात्री की गरिमा, रेल की गति राष्ट्र की प्रगति"!

This budget will document a journey of transformation, the journey of our nation, by touching millions of human lives daily.

Overcoming the challenges – our strategy

5. These are challenging times, may be one of the toughest. We are faced with two headwinds, entirely beyond our control; tepid growth of our economy’s core sectors due to international slowdown and the looming impact of the 7th Pay Commission and increased productivity bonus payouts. Further, historically declining modal share of Indian Railways, which dropped from 62% in 1980 to 36% in 2012, is continuing to exert pressure on the institution. At this moment, I am reminded of our former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s few lines:

विपदाएं आती हैं आएं, हम न रुकेंगे, हम न रुकेंगे।
आघातों की क्या चिंता है, हम न झुकेंगे, हम न झुकेंगे।

6. IR as an organization has stood the test of time due to the sheer grit and commitment of its employees. However, these challenging times require overhaul of our work culture and ethos cemented over years. Last year, I had unveiled a medium term vision for the Railways which set us on this transformational journey for which we now we need to Reorganise, Restructure and Rejuvenate this institution. We need to bring in a new approach, a new way of working - चलो, मिलकर कुछ नया करें।

7. the three pillars of the strategy that i am laying out today reflect
this new thought process.

A) Nav Arjan – New revenues: IR typically has focused on increasing revenues through tariff hikes. We want to change that and challenge our conventional thinking on freight policies to win back our share in the transportation sector. We will exploit new sources of revenue so that every asset, tangible or non-tangible, gets optimally monetized.

B) Nav Manak – New norms. Each rupee that gets expensed will be re-examined to ensure optimal productivity. We will take a ‘zerobased budgeting’ approach to the financials of the ensuing year. We will improve our efficiency yardsticks and procurement practices to bring them in line with international best practices. We will continue to innovate and optimise our outgo on each activity.

C) Nav Sanrachna – New Structures: We need to Re-imagine the conventional ways of solving issues. Co-operation, Collaboration, Creativity and Communication should be the hallmark of our decision-making and actions. We will revisit all processes, rules, and structures to enable this transformation of IR. We will draw upon our inherent strengths, diverse talents and rich experience to emerge stronger.

नव उमंग
नव तरंग
जीवन का नव प्रसंग
नवल चाह
नवल राह
जीवन का नव प्रवाह

श्री हरिवंश राय बच्चन

Financial Performance

8. For the year 2016-17, we expect an Operating Ratio of 92%, after including the immediate impact of the 7th Pay Commission, as against 90% likely to be achieved in the current year. It is pertinent to note that the Ordinary Working Expenses grew by 32.5% in 2008-09 due to the impact of the 6th Pay Commission while we are targeting to restrict the growth of Ordinary Working Expenses by 11.6% for 2016-17. This has been largely possible due to extensive cost optimization and revenue enhancement through innovative means planned next year. We have already made humble beginnings in this direction, as a result of which a saving of Rs. 8,720 crore from the budget estimates would be effected this year, neutralizing most of the revenue shortfall. We significantly reduced the cost of power procured for traction by signing long term agreements, brought down inventory carrying costs and launched austerity drives. In the next year, we are increasing the rigour on cost optimisation multi-fold. For the first time in IR absolute reductions, as compared to the previous year, have been planned in categories like diesel and electricity through concrete and rigorous planning. Further, with an optimistic outlook for the economy and various measures outlined later, we hope to generate revenues of the order of Rs. 1,84,820 crore next year, 10.1 % higher than the revised target for the current year. The statement of financial performance for 2015-16 and budget estimates for receipts and expenditure for 2016-17 is at Annex I.

Investments and Resources

Investment

9. We have ramped up capital expenditure to remove the huge backlog of the past as well as to provide for the current and future needs of the organisation. We have overhauled age old process bottlenecks and delegated powers effectively to the functional levels. As a result, the rate of capital expenditure has increased substantially in the later quarters of the year and should now grow exponentially. We will continue to employ this ‘new approach’ to our capital expenditure. We have managed to break away from the average capital expenditure of Rs. 48,100 crore over the period 2009-14, and an average growth of only 8% per annum, to achieve a quantum jump. This year, our investment would be close to double of the average of previous years – a feat never achieved earlier. For the year 2016-17, the capital plan has been pegged at Rs. 1.21 lakh crore.

10.This magnitude of investment calls for abandoning the businessas-usual approach and continually innovating to find new ways of sourcing funds and executing projects. Be it by forming joint ventures with states, developing new frameworks for PPP, scouting international markets for Rupee bonds or engaging with multilateral and bilateral agencies, IR will be at the forefront of infrastructure growth in the country. We have for the first time incorporated a statement in the ‘Pink Book’ of sanctioned works a list of partnership projects being undertaken with State Government and other agencies. Every rupee of investment in Railways has the capacity to increase economy-wide output by Rs. 5. The impact that this increased investment in Railways will have on the economic growth of the country is unprecedented. It would also lead to realizing the vision of a modern and efficient railway system.

Vision

11.We, in the Railways, must provide to the citizens of this country a rail system that they can be proud of – a system free from capacity constraints, a system that is efficient and predictable, a system that is sparkling and pristine, where the people of my country feel at ease, where there is plenty of choice in every sphere of activity, and the ease of doing business pervades the entire railway ecosystem. In short, a system that is capable of taking care of its own needs financially and otherwise.

12.By 2020, we look forward to meeting the long-felt desires of the common man: 

Reserved accommodation on trains being available on demand.
Time tabled freight trains with credible service commitments.
High end technology to significantly improve safety record.
Elimination of all unmanned level crossings.
Punctuality increased to almost 95%.
Increased average speed of freight trains to 50 kmph and Mail/Express trains to 80 kmph.
Semi high speed trains running along the golden quadrilateral.

Zero direct discharge of human waste.

13.I am thankful to the various committees, including the committee chaired by Dr. Debroy, whose recommendations have informed our vision. Many of the recommendations, being already a part of my last year’s budget speech, have seen expedited implementation, while there is steady progress on several others.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The year that was

14.Our Prime Minister demands the conversion of vision into specific reality with speed, efficiency and total transparency. As I stand to deliver my second Budget, I am conscious that this is not only a moment for the evolution of new ideas but also an examination of last year’s momentum. Accountability is an ongoing principle of public life.

15.I am happy to announce that action has been initiated on 139 budget announcements made last year. For the first time, an implementation report is included as Annex 2 to this Speech. Madam Speaker, let me take a few minutes to dwell on the progress of some of the key initiatives taken during this year.

Project execution

16.With great pleasure I wish to inform the House that bankable railway projects are now assured of funding and should be completed within the next 3-4 years. We have introduced a new way of funding our projects through institutional financing. LIC has agreed to invest Rs. 1.5 lakh crore over five years on extremely favourable terms. We are also looking forward to setting up a Fund with multilateral assistance for financing railway projects.

17.During the current financial year, we have been able to set new benchmarks in project execution. We will be surpassing the ambitious target of commissioning 2,500 km Broad Gauge lines. This will be almost 30% higher than last year. In the next year, we plan to commission 2,800 kms of track.

18.This year we changed the metric from completion to commissioning. ‘Completion’ can be a misleading term, a paper reality. Nothing has started functioning until it has been commissioned. It is with pride that I inform this august House that we are poised to commission Broad Gauge lines at the rate of over 7 km per day against an average of about 4.3 Km per day in the last 6 years. This pace will increase to about 13 kms per day in 2017-18 and 19 kms per day in 2018-19 and will generate employment of about 9 crore man days in 2017-18 and 14 crore man days in 2018-19.

Electrification

19.It has been established that electrical traction is more economical besides being environment friendly. In a business-as-usual approach, it may take us 10 to 15 years to complete the required electrification which we are targeting to complete in the next few years. We will accelerate the process and increase the pace multifold through innovative approaches of financing and project management including partnering with Ministry of Power. We will formulate a framework where the net savings from electrification will be able to finance the capital expenditure to minimise the strain on government exchequer. This year we intend commissioning 1,600 kms, which is the highest ever. In the next financial year, we have increased the outlay for railway electrification by almost 50% and propose to electrify 2,000 kms.

Dedicated Freight Corridor

20.The Dedicated Freight Corridor project, the largest infrastructure project in the country, is gaining momentum. I am happy to inform the House, that before this financial year closes, almost all the contracts for civil engineering works would have been awarded. Since I assumed office, contracts worth Rs. 24,000 crore have been awarded against Rs 13,000 crore worth of contracts in the last 6 years.

21.Given the emphasis on rapid expansion of freight business, it is essential to build more dedicated freight corridors for increased traffic with consequent benefits for the economy and environment. It is proposed to take up the following freight corridors: North-South connecting Delhi to Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai & East Coast connecting Kharagpur to Vijayawada. It is proposed to put these three projects on high priority to ensure structuring, award and implementation in a time-bound manner through innovative financing mechanisms including PPP.

Port Connectivity

22.Port connectivity is an important element to ensure seamless logistics to boost country’s imports and exports. Last year, we had launched a coastal connectivity program. I am happy to inform that the Tuna Port was commissioned this year and rail connectivity projects to ports of Jaigarh, Dighi, Rewas and Paradip are under implementation. For the year 2016-17, we propose to undertake implementation of rail connectivity for the ports of Nargol and Hazira under PPP. Considering the urgent need to provide connectivity to our ports on the 7,517 km coastline, we will positively consider to undertake any offer of partnership.

North East

23.Better connectivity to the North Eastern States is of utmost priority for our government. We have opened the long-awaited Broad Gauge Lumding-Silchar section in Assam, thus connecting Barak Valley with rest of the country. We also brought Agartala, the capital of Tripura on to the Broad Gauge network. The States of Mizoram and Manipur are also set to come on the Broad Gauge map of the country soon with commissioning of the KathakalBhairabi and Arunachal-Jiribam Gauge Conversion projects.

Jammu and Kashmir

24.In J&K, despite difficult terrain and uncertain geology, work on Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project is progressing satisfactorily and 35 Kilometers of tunneling, out of total of 95 Kilometers has been completed successfully. The decongestion work on the Jalandhar- Jammu line, an important link to the valley, is going on in full swing. Doubling of two bridges will be commissioned by March 2016, while the other two bridges will be completed by 2016-17.

Make in India

25.In keeping with our Prime Minister’s emphasis on Make in India, IR was able to finalise the bids for setting up two loco factories with an order book of about Rs. 40,000 crore. These factories will create an ecosystem of many flourishing small and medium ancillary units which will get connected to the global supply chain. They will boost employment potential of the entire Eastern region. We ran a bidding process that was absolutely transparent and the rates received were extremely competitive.

26.We have since initiated a similar bid process for manufacture, supply and maintenance of train sets to be used for Rajdhani and Shatabdi services. It is proposed to increase the current procurement by 30%.

Capacity Building for the future

27.In the last one year we have taken several measures to build the capacity of the organization to ensure readiness for the accelerated growth envisioned for IR. The outcome of this exercise has resulted in increased absorption of capital expenditure and reduced project sanction cycle.

Transparency

28.Transparency is an important tenet of our Government. IR’s mission is to ensure 100% transparency in all its operations. We have initiated the process of conducting recruitments online in 2015-16 and the process is now being replicated for all positions. Social media is also being used as a tool to bring in transparency in our day to day working. All procurement including procurement of works has moved to the e-platform. We intend to usher into a new era by switching over to paperless contract management system where not only the bids are invited online, but the entire process leading to award of a tender is also done electronically. We have completed the trial run for the above and intend to roll it out on a Pan-India basis in next financial year.

Governance

29.With a view to ensuring empowerment at functional level, I had delegated to the Zonal Railways all tender and estimate related powers. However, my task is not yet complete and this process will go on. As a result of the above decision, we were able to ensure that the projects get sanctioned within a period of 6-8 months, a process, which earlier, used to take more than 2 years. With more delegation comes greater accountability and to establish this new culture, key result areas (KRAs) have been defined for General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers. These areas clearly articulate the metrics on which the officials would be evaluated, ensuring objectivity in assessment of performance and mid-term course corrections.

30.We have signed MoUs with some Zonal Railways, where quantifiable targets on performance parameters were clearly laid out. This ensured resounding commitment from these Railways in meeting their targets. We shall do it for all zones next year.

Internal audit