Railways to spend 119% more funds on amenities

Presenting the Railway Budget on Friday in the Parliament, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed an outlay of Rs 40,745 crore for 2009-2010, which is 2,840 crore more than the allocation proposed in the interim budget.

The minister said that  Rs 15,675 crore will be deployed through internal resources and Rs 9, 170 crore from market borrowings. The ministry will also go for issue of tax free bonds for resource generation.

The railway minister proposed increase in the allocation for new lines from Rs 1,100 crore in the interim budget to Rs 2,921 crore. Similarly provision for gauge conversion has been increased by 24 per cent over the interim budget by allocating Rs 1,750 crore.

Passenger amenities will now have Rs 1,102 crore, while the allocation in the interim budget was only Rs 502 crore. Thus, 119 per cent more money will be spent on passenger amenities.

Declaring staff welfare as a priority area, she proposed 49 per cent increase for the construction of staff quarters by allocating Rs 335 crore and 79 per cent increase for staff amenities by allocating Rs 424 crore.

The minister also said, additional funds to the tune of Rs 1,949 crore have been sought from the ministry of finance for 11 railway projects spread over in Jammu & Kashmir and the North East. - PIB