Bengaluru: Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) on Thursday commended Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for setting a long-term vision with a five-point execution strategy for transforming Indian Railways supplementing it with comprehensive reform measures over the next five years.
The five-point vision includes: Adopting a medium-term perspective, Building Partnerships, Leveraging additional resources, Revamping management practices, systems, Setting standards for Governance and Transparency.
However, the Chamber expressed its concern on the freight rate hike on key commodities like steel, coal and cement which it feels was not necessary considering the fact that the economy is just seeing green shoots emerging.
The Chamber also welcomed the Railways for setting a four-point goal vis-à-vis delivering a sustained improvement in customer experience; making railways a safer means of travel; modernize infrastructure of railways and expand capacity and finally make railways financially self-sustainable.
A.N Chandramouli, President of BCIC said, “Overall, the Budget looks more operational and practical given the kind of very limited elbow space in term of shrinking revenues. Some open-ended announcements, such as commissioning of 1,200 km fresh lines this year, introduction of nine hi-speed corridors, high speed trains, wagon-leasing scheme for Private players, involvement of ISRO on safety initiatives, revamping of Railways through PPP Model and outsourcing cleaning services to private agencies are very positive measures.”
Mr. Chandramouli particularly commended the Railway Minister for announcing a slew of measures that would bring about a marked change in the operational efficiency of the world’s largest rail network like improving connectivity for all citizens, increasing the advance booking band to 120 days, improving capacity on high density networks, focus on gauge conversion and electrification, improving speed of trains and make it more punctual in next five years, augmenting annual passenger capacity to 30 million from the current 21 million and increasing track capacity by 14 percent to 1.38 Lakh kms, increasing annual freight capacity to 1.5 Billion tonnes from present 1 Billion, coordinating closely with States to improve rail connectivity, integrating technology to book tickets with ease to name a few.
He also expressed his happiness over the proposal to reduce unmanned level crossings, installing Surveillance cameras on select mainline and ladies compartments, encouraging corporate houses to adopt stations, rope industries to attract investment under PPP/ BOT modes to name a few.
Anuj Sharma, Senior Vice President-BCIC said, “We welcome the budget proposals to set up joint venture with States for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects. Similarly, the expansion of railway network to remote and backward areas which serve as an important engine for growth and brings overall socio-economic development in the region is also a long-term initiative that the Railway Minister needs to be commended for.”
Thyagu Valliappa, Vice President-BCIC said “Government’s high priority on skill development and to encourage self-employment which will promote products made by Self Help Groups, consisting mainly of women and youth is a welcome measure. Konkan Railway (KR) has already launched this programme in three States during the past three months and expects to create employment for approximately 50,000 persons from this scheme in the next few years.”
He also commended the Minister for announcing the proposal to set up a full-fledged Railway University during 2015-16 and setting up an Innovation Council called “Kayakalp” for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation in Railways in accordance with the vision of Prime Minister for Innovation, Technology Development and Manufacturing.
The Chamber also welcomed the nine thrust areas announced in Budget including: Indian Railways reclaiming its position as the prime mover of economy, resource mobilization for higher Investments, decongestion of heavy haul routes and speeding up of trains, Project delivery, passenger Amenities, safety, transparency and system improvement in railways to continue to be the preferred mode of transport for the masses and sustainability.
