Mamata to unveil status paper on Railways

Mamata to unveil status

paper on Railways

New Delhi : Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will place before Parliament today a document on the financial status of Indian Railways, an idea which had angered her predecessor and RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

"Tomorrow I will lay on the table (of the House) the first phase of vision document. Also a white paper will be released," Banerjee said in the Rajya Sabha winding up a debate on supplementary demands for grants for 2009-10. She said the vision document would outline short-term and the long term plans of the Railways, which carries 1.8 million passengers a day.

After becoming the Railway Minister in the second term of UPA, Banerjee had made her intention clear to come out with a white paper on the financial health of the Railways. As she did not sound very optimistic about the finances while presenting her budget in June, it left a question mark on the surpluses of Rs 90,000 crore shown by Prasad.

Responding to demands for new projects, she said Railways would require Rs one lakh crore to clear all pending projects. When she sought help from Parliament for sanction of such a large fund, the Left and BSP said the solution was with the Cabinet. As CPI-M members tried to interrupt, she shot back "Do not shout, let me speak. I am not that type of typical minister. I am transparent and accountable."

With the Rajya Sabha returning the appropriation bill, the supplementary demands for grants allowing Railways to draw an additional Rs 731 crore for the current fiscal got parliamentary approval. These have already been passed by the Lok Sabha.