by J. Padmapriya
THE annual
ritual of haggling for enhanced central support has begun with the Railways,
the only other ministry that presents its own Budget, coming to the Centre with
a jumbo-sized plan outlay of about Rs 14,000 crore against Rs 11,090 crore last
year.
The deviation
this time is that the demand for Budget support is nearly three times higher
than what Railways got last year. The requirement stands at Rs 9,690 crore
against the actual outlay of Rs 3,540 crore in 2001-02. A realistic Plan size
that is expected to emerge after deliberations between railway ministry and the
Planning Commission could be close to Rs 10,350 crore, but with a higher
budgetary component.
The new heads
under which Railways wants extra dole-out are last-mile projects and the
special railway safety fund. While 2001-02 saw an additional assistance of over
Rs 2,500 crore under these heads, the finance ministry is not too keen on a
repeat performance this year.
The last-mile
fund assistance was singular to fiscal 2001-02 when the government was
hell-bent on boosting public investment to the economy. As a result, Railways benefited,
as it is one ministry, which has a huge shelf of projects.
The finance
ministry has already committed to shoulder the burden of part-financing the
special railway safety fund, with a corpus of Rs 17,000 crore over the next
five years. As per the funding formula, Railways would raise Rs 4,000 crore via
the nominal surcharge on passenger fares and the balance would be borne by the
exchequer.
While the
finance ministry is yet to work out the avenues through which it would garner
the balance amount, the government is keen on a Rs l,000-crore outlay in the
coming year but with certain performance-linked milestones attached to it.
These milestones include project prioritisation, technology upgradation and a
balanced fare-freight tar1iff policy, sources said.
The railway
ministry is also keen on scaling down its market borrowings to just Rs 2,000
crore as fears of a debt trap loom large. Instead, it wants the Budget to
shoulder bulk of the Plan support. As a result, the Railways stand knocking the
doors of Planning Commission for an escalated Budget outlay.
On the internal
resource generation front too, the targets are down to just Rs 2,200 crore
against 2001-02's projection of Rs 3,550 crore. The target for the coming year
could be scaled upwards to Rs 2,500 crore.