No hike in rail fares but additional charges on tickets levied

February 26, 2013
New Delhi, Feb 26: The Railway Budget for 2013-14 today spared passengers from any further hike in fares but raised various other charges on tickets along with freight tariff of less than 5 per cent.

Presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who had effected an across-the-board hike in passenger fares only last month, said he does not intend to pass on the impact of deregulation of diesel price for now and the Railways will absorb a burden of Rs 850 crore on account of this.

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The first Congress minister to present a Railway Budget in 17 years, Bansal adopted Fuel Adjustment Component introduced by former Trinamool Minister Dinesh Trivedi which will be dynamic in nature and change in either direction with revision in fuel cost twice a year.

He said this may result in an upward revision of freight tariff, effective from April 1, this year, by less than 5 per cent.

In his 75-minute speech which was drowned in opposition slogan-shouting towards the end, Bansal said there are a number of supplementary charges which have not been revised for last several years.

"I propose to effect marginal increase in some of these. These include supplementary charge for superfast trains, reservation fee, clerkage charge, cancellation charge and tatkal charge," he said, without specifying the quantum of these charges.

Bansal, however, proposed to abolish the concept of enhanced reservation fee with a view to simplifying the fee structure, having already discontinued development charge in January this year.

In January, the minister effected an across-the-board hike in passenger fares that would net Rs 6,600 crore a year.

However, the subsequent hike in diesel price and electricity charges put an additional burden of Rs 3,300 crore on the railways which is projected to see a loss of Rs 24,600 crore in the current financial year, up from Rs 22,500 crore in 2011-12 in passenger traffic segment.

Bansal said the proposal for setting up of Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority has been formulated and was at the stage of inter-ministerial consultations.

The Budget proposes introduction of 67 new Express trains, 26 new passenger trains and extension of 57 others.

It also contains a slew of concessions like complimentary passes to recipients of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Dhyan Chand awards in First Class and 2nd AC and Olympic medalists and Dronacharya awardees in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

With regard to passenger amenities, the Budget proposes provision of free Wi-Fi facilities on several trains, progressive extension of bio-toilets on trains and induction of Next-Gen e-ticketing system capable of issuing 7,200 tickets per minute against 2,000 now.

As many as 1.2 lakh users can access tickets simultaneously under the proposed upgraded system against 40,000 now.

Touching on financial performance for 2012-13, Bansal said loading target has been revised to 1,007 Million Tonnes against 1,025 MT in budget estimates due to economic slowdown.

Gross Traffic Receipts have been fixed at Rs 1,25,680 crore in revised estimates, short by Rs 6,872 crores over Budget estimates.

Ordinary Working Expenses have been retained at Budget Estimate level of Rs 84,400 crores, while pension payments have increased by Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 20,000 crores.

Dividend liability to the government has been fully discharged. The Budget shows an 'excess' of Rs 10,409 crores as against the Budget amount of Rs 15,557 crores. Loan of Rs 3,000 crore taken in the current year has been fully repaid along with interest. Operating Ratio has been recorded at 88.8 per cent, as compared to 94.9 per cent in 2011-12.

The Budget Estimates for 2013-14 has fixed a freight loading target of 1,047 MT, 40 MT more than the previous year.

Passenger growth has been estimated at 5.2 per cent and gross traffic receipts at Rs 1,43,742 crore, an increase of Rs 18,062 crore over the revised estimates of the current year.

Ordinary working expenses have been placed at Rs 96,500 crore. Appropriation to Depreciation Reserve Fund has been pegged at Rs 7,500 crore and Pension Fund at Rs 22,000 crore.

Dividend Payment has been estimated at Rs 6, 249 crore.

Operating ration is expected to improve by one per cent to 87.8 per cent and fund balance to exceed Rs 12,000 crore.

Annual Plan for Railways for the coming year has been fixed at Rs 63,363 crore, the largest ever, with Gross Budgetary Support of Rs 26,000 crore. Allocation for Railway Safety Fund has been fixed at Rs 2,000 crore while internal resources have been estimated at Rs 14,260 crore.

As part of extra budgetary resources, market borrowing has been pegged at Rs 15,103 crore while public-private partnership will yield Rs 6,000 crore.

Inducting fiscal discipline, the Railway Minister said no supplementary demands for grants will be introduced in the monsoon or winter sessions of Parliament and 347 projects have been prioritised with assured funding.

A new Debt Service Fund will be set up to meet committed liabilities and a target of creating a fund balance of Rs 30,000 crore in the terminal year of the 12th Plan has been fixed.

As many as 72 additional suburban services will be introduced in Mumbai and 18 in Kolkata. There are plans to introduce first AC EMU rake in the Mumbai suburban network in the coming financial year.

Rake length has been increased from nine to 12 car for 80 services in Kolkata and 30 in Chennai.

The Budget proposes 500 km of new lines, doubling of 750 km and gauge conversion of 450 km.

Arunachal Pradesh will have the first ever rail link in the coming year, Bansal announced.

The Budget proposes a corporate safety plan for a 10 year period (2014-24) and elimination of 10,797 level crossings during the 12th Plan.

There will be no addition of level crossings in the Indian Railways henceforth. As part of safety features, a train protection warning system on automatic signalling systems will be introduced and rigorous trials of the indigenously developed train collision avoidance system will be conducted.

Among the rail-based industries to be set up are, a Forged Wheel Factory at Rae Bareli, the constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, a greenfield MEMU manufacturing facility at Bhilwara in Rajasthan and a coach manufacturing factory at Sonepat.

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News Network
November 11,2024

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The Manipur Kuki MLAs have released a statement calling out Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's 'lies' in the Supreme Court. In a joint statement, the MLAs, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party, said they had not had any meeting with the Chief Minister since May 3, 2023, nor did they intend to meet him in the future as “he was the mastermind behind the violence”.

As per the MLAs, the SG lied about state CM N Biren Singh speaking to Kuki MLAs to control the situation there, in order to halt a Supreme Court probe into the leaked tapes which allege that Singh has been complicit in the violence that broke out between Kukis and Meitis there.

"We...clarify that we have never had any meeting with Chief Minister, Shri N. Biren Singh since May 3, 2023, nor have any intention to meet him in future as he is the mastermind behind the violence and ethnic cleansing of our people from the Imphal valley, which is continuing till today, the latest being the brutal killing and burning of Mrs Zosangkim Hmar on November 7, 2024," the letter read, while condemning the recent 'barbaric' killing of the woman there, and noting the SG's assertion is 'tantamount' to misleading the top court.

“We, the undersigned ten MLAs, have come to know that during the Supreme Court hearing held on November 8, 2024, the Solicitor General of India submitted that ‘CM is meeting all Kuki MLAs and trying to bring the situation down to get peace’. In this connection, we hereby categorically state that this submission is a blatant lie and tantamount to misleading the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the statement said.

The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition by a Kuki organisation, asked that it submit audio tapes to substantiate its claim that the Chief Minister was instrumental in inciting and organising violence in the northeastern State.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta orally informed the court that the Chief Minister was meeting all the Kuki-Zo MLAs and that peace in the State had come at a huge cost.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Taliban regime has appointed Ikramuddin Kamil as the acting consul in the Afghan mission in Mumbai, Afghan media has reported.

It is the first such appointment made by the Taliban set up to any Afghan mission in India.

There was no immediate comment from the Indian side on the appointment that came.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan has announced the appointment of Kamil as the acting consul in Mumbai, the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

"He is currently in Mumbai, where he is fulfilling his duties as a diplomat representing the Islamic Emirate," it said.

The appointment is part of Kabul's efforts to strengthen diplomatic ties with India and enhance its presence abroad, the media outlet said

Kamil holds a PhD degree in international law and previously served as the deputy director in the department of security cooperation and border affairs in the foreign ministry, it said.

He is expected to facilitate consular services and represent the interests of Afghanistan in India, the report added.

Kamil's appointment comes days after the external affairs ministry's point-person for Afghanistan held talks with the Taliban's acting defence minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, in Kabul.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, also posted on X about Kamil's appointment.

The appointment of Kamil is seen as part of efforts to facilitate consular services to the Afghan population in Mumbai.

There has been almost negligible presence of diplomatic staff at the Afghan missions in India.

Most of the diplomats appointed by the Ashraf Ghani government have already left India.

In May, Zakia Wardak, the seniormost Afghan diplomat in India, resigned from her position after reports emerged that she was caught at the Mumbai airport for allegedly trying to smuggle 25 kg of gold worth Rs 18.6 crore from Dubai.

Wardak had taken charge as the acting ambassador of Afghanistan to New Delhi late last year, after working as the Afghan consul general in Mumbai for more than two years.

She took charge of the Afghan embassy in New Delhi last November, after the mission helmed by then ambassador Farid Mamundzay announced its closure.

Mamundzay, who was an appointee of the Ghani government, had moved to the United Kingdom.

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Union minister Amit Shah on Friday, November 15, said PM Narendra Modi will amend the Waqf Act despite opposition from leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.

"Modi ji wants to change the Waqf Board law, but Uddhav ji, Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule are opposing it," Shah said, addressing a rally at Umarkhed in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district.

"Uddhav ji, listen carefully, you all can protest as much as you want, but Modi ji will amend the Waqf Act," he said. Shah said there are two camps in the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, one of 'Pandavas' represented by the BJP-led Mahayuti and the other of 'Kauravas' represented by Maha Vikas Aghadi.

"Uddhav Thackeray claims that his Shiv Sena is the real one. Can the real Shiv Sena go against renaming Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar? Can the real Shiv Sena go against renaming Ahmednagar to Ahilyanagar? The real Shiv Sena stands with the BJP," Shah said.

"Rahul Baba used to say that his government would credit money in the accounts of the people instantly. You were unable to fulfil your promises in Himachal, Karnataka, and Telangana," he said.

Shah said the Mahayuti alliance has promised that women will get Rs 2,100 per month under the Ladki Bahin Yojana. "Kashmir is an integral part of India and no power in the world can snatch it away from us," Shah said.

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