The user must pay, yes, but for what ?
Passengers must pay more, says the Railways. So they have increased the fares of Special trains by more than 100% and made several trains Super fast recently. The trains doing 53 kmph earlier now do 55 kmph, the speed norm for super fast trains. Passengers pay Rs.30 (SL), Rs. 45( 2& 3 tier A/c) as Super fast surcharge.
Rock Fort express. Tiruchi-Chennai arrives at 04-40 hours at Chennai. While the buses are infrequent, taxis and autos charge double as night fare. Passengers end up paying Rs.100 more. Consumers’ plea to re-designate these trains as express train was ignored by Railway Bureaucrats. Poor Mr. Prabhu! He dare not cross the line drawn by them. He is unable to reform even the present accounting system (a stumbling block for private investment ) although he himself is a chartered Accountant.
True, as Arun Jaitley said, the user must pay for the services he receives. Then it logically follows that the non-user of Railways should not pay to support the Railway expenses. When no services are offered, no fee can be collected. This is a legal maxim.
Like Theni in Tamilnadu, Kodagu in Karnataka, several districts in MP, H.P , Odissa, Uttarakhand, Jharkand, Chattisgarh J&K etc., and State of Sikkim do not have a Railway station and millions have not seen a train. The majority of the Indians rarely travel by train. When Mr. Jaitley provides money from the General Budget, he is sucking money from these non-users to give it to the corrupt and inefficient Railways.
Fare hike will be a self-inflicted punishment as passenger revenue is already going down. ( Railway Budget speech 2016-17) Railways must look at other options to raise funds.
First things first: The atrocious 66.82 % staff cost ( RTI ) (staff cost Rs.68449 crores plus Pension outgo Rs..40,409 crores out of its total receipts Rs.162,960 crores -2016-2017) is their own making because Railways is considered a mere job provider . Nowhere in the world the staff cost would be in this proportion in any industry. Railways need a surgical strike to cut down the staff strength ( now 13 lakhs ), to begin with, by 4 lakhs, and they would get around Rs.55,000 crores. though they have to spend Rs.30,000 crores on their pension.
The outcry that will follow retrenchment, redeployment and VRS has to be faced and silenced. It is easier now than ever since the current crop of Union leaders are shivering in their shoe
s fearing a CBI raid as their accumulated wealth is perhaps 100 times their declared income. A strike threat last year was fused after a CBI raid. When Tiruchirappalli Senior Divisional Commercial Manager suspended several TTEs and transferred many for claiming TA and DA on days when the trains were cancelled, the protest by the TTEs became a whimper with no help from the Union whose leaders had been raided also by IT.. The Chief Vigilance Commissioner has said that corruption is on the increase in Railways and most of the complaints received are only about the Railways.( Aug.4th, 2015, ToI ). Pantry cars host passengers as the “revenue” goes to meet the demands of the officers, says a Pantry car Superintendent.
The corrupt in the bureaucracy will quit once Mr. Prabhu convinces the Nation by his action that he does not tolerate corruption. Leave alone winning the race, Mr. Prabhu has not yet reached the starting line. Several thousands of crores could be saved if the Ministry decides to fight corruption.
The self-serving Railway bureaucrats made 17 zones out of 9 so that they get their promotions and perks. Bibek Debroy report says that the efficiency had not increased even by 1% percent. Babus in British-built Bungalows still have 1107 Bungalow peons although 1973 Pay commission recommended their abolition. (CAG report ) 17 Zones must be shrunk to 5 corporations each having its own Board with outside experts serving them, to save a few thousand crores. Now the Board is of the employees, by the employees and for the employees.
Talking of efficiency can only be a joke when the Operating Ratio is 96.5 % (RTI) in 2016-17. If it is brought down to 75% as it was in 2007-08, a clear saving of Rs.34, 222 crores will accrue.
Unleashing its Telecom potential and sale of its own unused lands (a pucca inventory is yet to be prepared. – Debroy report) will take care of its capital expenditure for two years.
Lease of its 220 sub-divisional,73 Divisional and 17 Zonal Hospitals and Health units of most of the 7589 stations on condition that Railway men should continue to enjoy the facilities at nominal cost, would easily fetch Rs.10,000 crores.
The standing Parliamentary committee on Railways must force these suggestions down the unwilling throats of its Bureaucrats –the built-in threat to this institution-to rejuvenate the Railways, which is now in ICU.
S. Pushpavanam
Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamilnadu more