NEW DELHI: The Railway Ministry’s proposal to get a 10 per cent increase in budgetary support for the fiscal year 2018-19 from the finance ministry seems to have hit a roadblock with the latter asking the Railways to generate extra revenue through its own resources.
Officials from both the ministries held a meeting to discuss the budgetary support this week. Railways was told it was not possible to give budgetary support of Rs 60,000 crore demanded by it, which was a 10 per cent jump from Rs 55,000 crore in 2017-18.
With general elections in 2019, this budget is expected to be the last full budget of the NDA government, which is expected to give more funds allocation to social and infrastructure sectors.
According to sources in the finance ministry, budgetary support to the Railways is likely to either remain same as last year or increase slightly. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways mjay get a higher budgetary allocation, considering the focus on road connectivity.
“We have been told that our proposed demand for budgetary support from the Finance Ministry is unlikely to be met completely,” confirmed sources in the railway ministry.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal last week had said that Indian Railways is not looking at more funds in the budget as it is looking at monetising its own assets.