Yet again, Railways slashes grant to State

In yet another jolt to the State, the Railway Ministry has slashed the budgetary grant to East Coast Railway (ECoR) triggering apprehensions that some of the much-awaited projects could face further delay.

 In the September revision, the ministry has curtailed about ` 35 cr from the annual budget grant to ECoR. This is the second cut in three months. After the Rail Budget, as reported earlier in this paper, the ministry had made a ` 211 cr cut in the 2012-13 grant drawing sharp reactions from the Odisha Government.

The revision has seen ` 6 cr being slashed from the new projects head, ` 23 cr from maintenance and ` 1 cr from passenger amenities. For the new lines construction, the ministry had allocated ` 83 cr which remained unchanged in July revision. But in the latest revision, it was cut to ` 77 cr. Similarly, track renewal head was cut from ` 177 cr to ` 164 cr. What’s appalling, this head had seen a cut of ` 24 cr in July revision too.

Grant to the bridge works head has also been reduced from ` 16.48 cr to ` 14.64 cr. Signaling and telecom  segment has also witnessed a ` 6 cr slash from ` 56 cr to ` 50 cr. That ECoR has a very low operating ratio of 45.6 and gives an earning of over ` 8850 cr to the ministry, the regular slash has come as a surprise to the top brass here. “It is the ministry’s decision. We’ have nothing to do with it,” said a senior official.

The cuts have had an impact on some of the much-hyped and delayed projects. The Khurda Road-Balangir New Line has witnessed a series of cuts. During 2010-11, the ministry slashed the grant from ` 120 cr to ` 60 cr and next year, it dropped to `45.45 cr. During 2012-13, the grant has further fallen to ` 38 cr.

This line had seen an expenditure ` 59.87 cr last fiscal which was more than sanctioned budget of ` 45.45 cr. Instead of allocating more funds this year to expedite the project, the cut will slow down its progress.  Similarly, in the July revision, the Delang-Puri line, which is necessary for the Nabakalebara festival in 2015, saw a slash of ` 2 cr. Interestingly, the ministry, while slashing budgetary grant to ECoR projects, does not effect any cuts on projects executed by Rail Vikash Nigam Ltd.

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