People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)


Vol. XXXV

No. 10

March  06, 2011

 


LITANY OF BROKEN PROMISES IN RAILWAY BUDGET 2011

 

HEAD

PROMISES IN BUDGET 2010

COMMENTS

WHAT WAS SAID IN BUDGET 2011

New Lines

 

1000 KMS IN 2010-11

25000 KMS in next 10 Years was Promised as part of Vision 2020

700 KMS to be Completed by March 2011

Upgradation of Stations

94 Stations were declared as Adarsh Stations

309 Stations were declared as Adarsh Stations in 2009 Budget

442 Adarsh Stations to be completed by March 2011; 236 more Stations to Be made Adarsh Stations

World Class Stations

10 more Stations to be converted to World Class Stations

50 Stations were selected for World Class Stations in 2009 Budget

Not much headway because of ‘High Costs’

Multi-Functional Complexes (Shopping Centres, Restuarants, Stores, Pcos, Hotels, Multi-Level Parking etc. in Station premises)

Construction of Another 93 MFCs to be taken up

Construction of 50 MFCS by IRCON and RLDA was announced in 2009 Budget

A few are in the ‘Process of Completion’; more MFCs announced

Bottling Plants for Fresh Water

6 Bottling Plants to be set up at Ambala, Amethi, Mal, Nasik, Farakka & Trivandrum

Bottled Water was supposed to be provided at Stations at cheaper rates

Not Mentioned

New Ticket Centres

Opening Ticket Centres at District Headquarters & Village Panchayats

A promise to sell Computerized Tickets from 5000 Post Offices were made in Budget 2009

Not Mentioned

Railway Safety

anti-collission device (ACD) to be extended to 3 more zonal railways;

4 projects of train protection warning system (TPWS) covering 828 KMS will be implemented in 2010-11

Extension of ACD to South, South Central & South Western Railways was Announced in 2009

‘will be Commissioned’ in 3 Zones; to be Extended to 4 more zones; no mention of TPWS

Unmanned Level Crossings

Another 1000 level crossings will be manned in 2010-11

Manning of 3000 unmanned level crossings was approved in 2009-10

1500 unmanned crossings eliminated; 2500 unmanned crossings to be manned next year

Sports

5 Sports Academies to be set up at Delhi, Secunderabad, Chennai, Kolkata & Mumbai

Astro-Turfs for the Development of Hockey was also promised

Not Mentioned

CULTURE & HERITAGE

Rabindra Museum at Howrah; Gitanjali Museum at Bolpur to Commemorate 150th Anniversary of Tagore

Shambhu Mitra Cultural Complex at Howrah was also promised

Not Mentioned

Housing

“House for all” Railway Employees

to be provided in 10 years

Not Mentioned

Hospitals & Educational Institutions

522 hospitals and diagnostic centres (Including 40 multi-specialty hospitals), 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 10 Residential Schools

Degree colleges, technical and management institutions also promised for children of railway employees

Hospitals not mentioned; 20 medical road medical vans to be provided; RVPB to be set up to improve school quality; 20 hostels for children of railway employees have been commissioned

Coach and loco factories

New coach factories at Kancharapara and Palakkad; DMU factory at Sankrail; second unit at ICF Chennai; coach MLR workshop at Anara (Adra); loco factories at Medhepura & Marhora to progress

Work on Rae Bareilly coach factory to ‘pick up’; willingness to set up coach factory at Singur also expressed

First coach from Rae Bareilly to turn out within three months; all other projects are ‘progressing’ and a ‘core group of officers’ are working to ‘take them forward’

Wagon Factories

5 Wagon factories at Secunderabad, Barddhaman, Bhubaneswar/Kalahandi, Guwahati and Haldia

In JV/PPP mode

‘Already executing works’ or ‘also to be taken up’

Rail Axle Factory

New Rail Axle factory in new Jalpaiguri; two Poh/Ioh Workshops For High Axle Load Wagons in Maharashtra and Dankuni

JV/PPP mode

‘Taken up’

Kisan Vision Project

6 Cargo centres for Perishable Agricultural products to be set up as Pilot Projects in Dankuni, Mechcheda, Nasik, new Jalpaiguri, new Azadpur & Singur;

Refrigerated container factory in PPP mode in Budge also promised

Mentioned once as being among policy initiatives which have received ‘encouraging’ response

Auto Hubs

Automobile and Ancillary Hubs at 10 Locations

Mentioned once as being among policy initiatives which have received ‘encouraging’ response

Eco Parks

10 Eco parks to conserve forest and wetlands under railways

 

Not Mentioned

 

Dedicated Freight Corridors

DFCCIL to be revamped; land  Acquisition without inconvenience to people; Sonnagar-Dankuni Section of Eastern Corridor Project to start during 2010-11; Preliminary study for remaining four corridors: North-South; East-West and South-South

‘Diamond Corridor’ was announced in budget 2009

Main agreement with JICA signed for Western Corridor; Bidding Process has commenced; work ‘has started’ on Eastern Corridor in Dankuni

 

Dedicated Passenger Corridors

Golden Rail Corridor announced; 6 high speed passenger Rail Corridors of 250 to 350 KMPH speed

national high speed rail authority to be set up

Pre-feasibility study for Delhi-Mumbai leg to start ‘early next year’; objective to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 KMPH

Trans Asia Railway Network

Rail link between Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala in India

As per agreement between the two Governments in January 2010

Not Mentioned

Socially Desirable Rail Connectivity

Surveys for 114 New Lines; 55 more New Line Surveys Considered as per Requests; 2 New Gauge Conversion Surveys; 7 Doubling Surveys; 5 Short Link Surveys

5 new line surveys to Nepal also

94 to be completed by March 2011; work to commence in 12th Five Year Plan (2012 onwards) under PMRVY

 

 

If This is the Record vis-a-vis the Promises Made In 2010, can we Believe in the Promises made in 2011?