Railway Budget 2014-15 : Rail Budget Seeks Course Correction, Avoids Populism

Railway Budget 2014-15 : Rail Budget Seeks Course Correction, Avoids Populism

• Rail Budget Seeks Course Correction, Avoids Populism
• No Increase in Rail Fare
• Stress on Resource Mobilization Through PSU Surplus, FDI and PPP
• Bullet Train on Ahmedabad-Mumbai Corridor Proposed, Speed of Trains to be Increased in Nine Sectors
• More Thrust on Passenger Amenities, Cleanliness & Efficient Station Management
• Multi Pronged Approach for Improving Safety & Security, 4000 Women RPF Constables to be Recruited
• Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing, WI-FI Services in Major Stations & in Select Trains, Mobile based Wakeup Calls for Passengers
• 58 New Trains Introduced; 11 Existing Trains Extended
• Railway University and Innovation Incubation Centre to be Set UP
• Top Priority to Transparency, e-procurement to be made
• Compulsory in Higher Purchase, Online Registration for Wagons in Next Two Months
• Highest Ever Plan Outlay of Rs. 65,445 Crore with Higher Allocation for Safety Measures

Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects and increased financial discipline are the main highlights of the Railway Budget 2014-15 presented by the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda in Parliament today.

The Budget seeks course correction in the light of mismanagement, apathy, populism in starting projects and severe fund crunch that have inflicted the railways over the years, the Minister averred. For this, structural reforms will be introduced and resources will be mobilized through PSU surplus, FDI and PPP.

The Budget proposes multi-pronged approach to make Railway journey safe and secure and comfortable for passengers. More thrust has been placed on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management. Now all major stations will have foot-over bridges, escalators, lifts etc.

On safety and security, the Budget has proposed introduction of advance technology for rail-flaw detection to check causes of accidents, a significant amount has been kept for road-over and road-under bridges and a pilot project will be launched on automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches. In order to make women safer while travelling, the Railway will recruit 4000 women constables. Coaches for ladies will be escorted.

IT initiatives get a big boost in the Budget. Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing will be taken up with provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets also over internet. The Railway has proposed real-time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers, mobile based destination arrival alert and Wi-fi Services in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains. Indian Railways has also planned paperless offices in 5 years.

In order to make Railway management more efficient, Budget has proposed setting up of Railway University for training in both technical and non-technical subjects besides establishing Innovations and Incubation Centre to harness the ideas generated from staff.

In a bid to modernise Indian Railway network, Bullet train has been proposed on Mumbai-Ahmadabad sector besides increasing speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select 9 sectors. The Railway has also planned setting up of Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail connecting major metros and growth centers of the country. Identified stations will be developed to international standards with modern facilities on lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. Railway has also proposed harnessing solar energy by utilizing roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings and land.

To augment resources of Railways, the Budget has proposed schemes to facilitate procurement of parcel vans and rakes by private parties, special milk tanker trains, increased movement of fruits and vegetables in partnership with Warehousing Corporation and setting up Private Freight Terminals on PPP model.

The Railway has proposed to bring in more transparency in administration and execution of projects. The status of ongoing projects will be available online, E-procurement will be made compulsory for procurement of higher amount and online registration of demands for wagons will be introduced within next two months.
The Budget has passenger centric focus on suburban and metropolitan rail services. 864 additional state-of-the-art EMUs will be introduced in Mumbai in two years. Study to explore possibility of enhancing existing railway network for better connectivity needs of Bangaluru will be taken up.

The Railway Budget 2014-15 has proposed 58 new trains besides extending 11 existing trains. Provision has been made for 28 surveys for new lines and doubling or gauge conversion of lines. Higher funds have been proposed for ongoing projects in Northeast and remote areas. Special packaged trains on identified pilgrim circuits, two tourist trains and a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda has been proposed in the Budget.

According to the Budget estimates, the Railways will earn  1,64,374 crore through various resources and will spend  1,49,176 crore during 2014-15. The operating ratio is expected to be 92.5% which is 1% better than that in 2013-14.

Source: PIB

Railway Reservation System to be Revamped: Supports 7200 tickets per minute & 1,20,000 users at any point in time

Railway Reservation System to be Revamped: Supports 7200 tickets per minute & 1,20,000 users at any point in time

Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:29 IST

Railway Reservation System to be Revamped

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Railway Reservation System will be revamped into Next Generation e-Ticketing System. Ticket booking through mobile phones and through Post Offices will be popularized.

Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, the Indian Railways will improve the system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 tickets per minute and allow 1,20,000 simultaneous users at any point in time.

The Minister said, facility of Coin Operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines will be experimented.
He said, efforts will also be made to provide facility of buying Platform Tickets and unreserved tickets over internet. Parking-cum-Platform Combo Tickets will be launched to facilitate the passengers and to save their time.

He said that online booking facility of Railway Retiring Room will be extended to all the stations during the course of the year. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today he said, the Indian Railways is expanding the scope of online booking for people to book a Train, book a Coach, book a Berth and book a Seat in Chair Car.

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PIB

Staff Welfare Fund Contribution to be Increased and Railway University to be set up for Railway Employees

Staff Welfare Fund Contribution to be Increased and Railway University to be set up for Railway Employees

Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:36 IST

Staff Welfare Fund Contribution to be Increased

Railway University to be set up for Railway Employees

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has announced several measures for welfare and skill development of railway staff. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today, the Minister said, these measures include:

i) Increase in contribution towards Staff Benefit Fund from Rs. 500 per capita to Rs.800 per capita.
ii) A special scheme for the meritorious wards of Railway persons for their outstanding performance in academics and sports for such children.
iii) The Hospital Management Information system will be used to integrate all health units, Divisional hospitals and Central Hospitals as well as our empanelled hospitals and
iv) To examine feasibility of providing air-conditioning in loco cabins;

He said, Railways is also contemplating on setting up of a Railway University for both technical and non-technical subjects.

He said, Indian Railways will tie up with technical institutions for introducing railway oriented subject for graduation and skill development. In the meantime, staff at the ground level will be sent for short duration courses of technical and non-technical nature, involving locally available technical institutions. The exposure for specialized areas like high-speed, heavy haul operations, etc. will be undertaken for all level of staff and officers at appropriate institutes in India and abroad.

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MKP/AD/DB

Bullet Trains and Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail

Bullet Trains and Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:33 IST

Bullet Trains and Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail

The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda has said that Indian Railways is on its way to fulfill the long cherished dream to run a Bullet Train. Presenting the Railway Budget 2014-15 in Parliament today, he said, the Railways proposes bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done.

The Minster said, under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modiji, the Railways is embarking on an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail, connecting major Metros and growth centers of the country. A provision of Rs.100 crore has been made in the Budget for high Speed project to RVNL/HSRC (High Speed Rail Corridor) for taking further steps.

He said, while bullet trains would require completely new infrastructure, higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present network. The Minister said, hence, an effort will be made to increase the speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select sectors so as to significantly reduce travel time between major cities. The Minister said, the identified sectors are:

i) Delhi-Agra
ii) Delhi-Chandigarh
iii) Delhi-Kanpur
iv) Nagpur-Bilaspur
v) Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai
vi) Mumbai-Goa
vii) Mumbai-Ahmedabad
viii) Chennai-Hyderabad and
ix) Nagpur-Secunderabad.

PIB

Railway Budget 2014-15: 58 New Trains to be Introduced 11 Existing Trains to be Extended

Railway Budget 2014-15: 58 New Trains to be Introduced 11 Existing Trains to be Extended 

Print Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Railways

08-July-2014 13:19 IST

Railways proposes to introduce 58 new trans which includes five Jansadharan Trains, five Premium Trains, six AC Express Trains, 27 Express Trains, eight Passenger Trains, two MEMU services and five DEMU services this year. Announcing this in Parliament today while presenting the rail budget, the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda also proposed to extend the run of 11 existing trains.

Shri Gowda said these services would be meeting the demand surges which manifest themselves on special occasions. He said that special trains would continue to run to meet the holiday and festival rush including services for Melmaruvathur, Velankanni, Jhalawar etc.

NEW TRAINS

Jansadharan Trains

i) Ahmedabad–Darbhanga Jansadharan Express via Surat
Ii Jaynagar–Mumbai Jansadharan Express
ii) Mumbai–Gorakhpur Jansadharan Express
iv) Saharasa–Anand Vihar Jansadharan Express via Motihari
v) Saharasa–Amritsar Jansadharan Express

Premium Trains

i) Mumbai Central–New Delhi Premium AC Express
ii) Shalimar–Chennai Premium AC Express
iii) Secunderabad-­ Hazrat Nizamuddin Premium AC Express
iv) Jaipur–Madurai Premium Express
v) Kamakhya–Bengaluru Premium Express

AC ExpressTrains

i) Vijayawada­NewDelhiAPExpress(Daily)
ii) LokmanyaTilak(T)–Lucknow(Weekly)
iii) Nagpur–Pune(Weekly)
iv) Nagpur–Amritsar(Weekly)
v) Naharlagun–NewDelhi(Weekly)
vi) Nizamuddin–Pune(Weekly)

ExpressTrains

i) Ahmedabad–Patna Express(Weekly)via Varanasi
ii) Ahmedabad­ Chennai Express(Bi­weekly)via Vasai Road
iii) Bengaluru –Mangalore Express(Daily)
iv) Bengaluru –Shimoga Express(Bi­weekly)
v) Bandra(T)–Jaipur Express(Weekly)Via Nagda,Kota
vi) Bidar–Mumbai Express(Weekly)
vii) Chhapra–Lucknow Express (Tri­ weekly)viaBallia,Ghazipur,Varanasi
viii) Ferozpur–Chandigarh Express(6 days a week)
ix) Guwahati–Naharlagun Intercity Express(Daily)
x) Guwahati–Murkongselek Intercity Express(Daily)
xi) Gorakhpur–Anand Vihar Express(Weekly)
xii) Hapa–Bilaspur Express(Weekly)via Nagpur
xiii) Hazur Saheb Nanded–Bikaner Express(Weekly)
xiv) Indore–Jammu Tawi Express(Weekly)
xv) Kamakhya–Katra Express(Weekly)via Darbhanga
xvi) Kanpur–Jammu Tawi Express(Bi­weekly)
xvii) Lokmanya Tilak(T)–Azamgarh Express(Weekly)
xviii) Mumbai_Kazipeth Express(Weekly)via Balharshah
xix) Mumbai–Palitana Express(Weekly)
xx) New Delhi ­Bhatinda Shatabdi Express(Bi­weekly)
xxi) New Delhi–Varanasi Express(Daily)
xxii) Paradeep–Howrah Express(Weekly)
xxiii) Paradeep–Visakhapatnam Express(Weekly)
xxiv) Rajkot–Rewa Express(Weekly)
xxv) Ramnagar–Agra Express(Weekly)
xxvi) Tatanagar Baiyyappanahali (Bengaluru) Express(Weekly)
xxvii) Visakhapatnam–Chennai Express(Weekly)

Passenger Trains

i) Bikaner–Rewari Passenger(Daily)
ii) Dharwad–Dandeli Passenger(Daily)via Alnavar
iii) Gorakhpur–Nautanwa Passenger(Daily)
iv) Guwahati–Mendipathar Passenger(Daily)
v) Hatia–Rourkela Passenger
vi) Byndoor–Kasaragod Passenger(Daily)
vii) Rangapara North–Rangiya Passenger(Daily)
viii) Yesvantpur–Tumkur Passenger(Daily)

MEMU services

i) Bengaluru –Ramanagaram 6 days a week(3Pairs)
ii) Palwal–Delhi–Aligarh

DEMU services

i) Bengaluru –Neelmangala (Daily)
ii) Chhapra–Manduadih (6days a week)via Ballia
iii) Baramula–Banihal (Daily)
iv) Sambalpur–Rourkela (6 days a week)
v) Yesvantpur ­Hosur (6 days a week)

EXTENSION OF RUN OF EXISTING TRAINS

i) 22409/22410 Anand Vihar Sasaram Garib Rath Express to Gaya
ii) 12455/12456 Delhi Sarai Rohilla Sriganganagar Express to Bikaner
iii) 15231/15232 Gondia Muzaffarpur Express to Barauni
iv) 12001/12002 New Delhi Bhopal Shatabdi Express to Habibganj
v) 54602 Ludhiana–Hissar Passenger to Sadulpur
vi) 55007/55008 Sonpur–Kaptanganj Passenger to Gorakhpur
vii) 55072/55073 Gorakhpur–Thawe Passenger toSiwan
viii) 63237/63238Buxar–Mughalsarai MEMU toVaranasi
ix) 63208/63211Jhajha–PatnaMEMUtoJasidih
x) 64221/64222LucknowHardoi MEMU to Shahjahan pur
xi) 68002/68007Howrah–Belda MEMU to Jaleswar

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MKP/HK/Samir/sk

Payment of arrears of pension for the period 1-1-2006 to 23-9-2012: Kindly stop driving every affected individual pensioner to the Courts of law

Payment of arrears of pension for the period 1-1-2006 to 23-9-2012: Kindly stop driving every affected individual pensioner to the Courts of law

BHARAT PENSIONER SAMAJ
(All India Federation of Pensioner’s Associations)
New Delhi – 110014

No SG/MOS PP/014/2

Dated: 07/07/2014

To
Dr.Jitendra Singh
Honerable MOS (PP)
GOI. M/O Personnel,PG & Pensions

Subject: Payment of arrears of pension for the period 1-1-2006 to 23-9-2012
Honorable Minister Sir.

Kindly stop driving every affected individual pensioner to the Courts of law. instead extended automatically to similarly placed pensioners Court Judgment confirmed or delivered by the Apex Court as was recommended by 5th CPC also vide their Para 126.5.

Sir. with reference to then MOS (P) answer dated 12.02.2014 in Lok Sabha to UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 3406 regarding PAYMENT OF ARREARS TO PENSIONERS your kind attention is drawn to the facts that Principal CAT order dated 1. l l .2011 in OA No.655/2010 quashed clarificatory OM dated 03.10.2008 and directed to re-fix the pension of all pre-2006 retirees w.e.f. 1.1.2006. based on the Resolution dated 29.08.2008. While dismissing WP (C) No. 1535/2012 of UOI on 29-4-2013.

Hon’ble Delhi High Court upheld the verdict of the CAT-PB. Dismissing SLP (C) No.23055/2013 filed by UOI against the judgement of Hon’ble Delhi High on 29-7-2013 and then Review Petition (C) No.2492/2013 on 12-11-2013 and finally Curative Petition (C) No. 126/2014 on 30-4-2014, Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld the Judgment of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court. With this CAT verdict dated 1-11-2011. referred to, has attained legal finality, But unfortunately instead of implementing the said judgement in letter & spirit of all pre 2006 Pensioners DOP & PW going against the judgement. has taken a decision to implement it qua petitioners.

Sir. as is admitted in the answer to Lok Sabha unstarred Q.No 3406 Honerable CAT -PB order under reference has already been implemented from an arbitrary date 24.09.2012. Thus in all legality the arrears w.e.f. 01 .01 .2006 too should he paid to all & not only to a small section of pensioners who could afford to go to the Court of law.

Sir, Bharat Pensioners Samaj in its capacity as the largest & oldest organization of C.G. Pensioners over 550 Pensioners Associations affiliated/associated to it, appeal to you to ensure correct delivery of justice by implementing the judgement under reference to all pre 2006 pensioner so that other affected Pensioners in the evening of their live are not pushed to seek justice from court of law.

We are also request you to permit inclusion of this issue in the Agenda of 25th SCOVA meeting Sheduled to be held under your Chairmanship on 24th of July 2014.

Thanking you in anticipation

With regards
Sincerely yours
sd/- dated 06.07.2014
S.C. Maheshwari
Secy. Genl. Bharat Pensioners Samaj

Source: scm-bps.blogspot.in
[http://scm-bps.blogspot.in/2014/07/payment-of-arrears-of-pension-for.html]

Setting up of RTI Cell in the Public Authorities: Rs.50,000 available for each Ministries/Departments/Attached Offices/Subordinate Offices

Setting up of RTI Cell in the Public Authorities: Rs.50,000 available for each Ministries/Departments/Attached Offices/Subordinate Offices

F.No.1/12/2010-IR

Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 7th July, 2014

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: – Financial assistance for Setting up of RTI Cell in Public Authority.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s OM of even number dated 19.05.2011 and 02.08.2012 regarding a ‘One time grant of Rs.50,000/- by DOPT for procuring a computer, scanner, printer etc. towards setting up of RTI Cell in the Public Authorities under the Centrally Sponsored Plan Scheme ‘Improving transparency and accountability in Government through effective implementation of RTI’.

2. It is reiterated that Ministries/Departments/Attached Offices/Subordinate Offices desirous of availing the facility of financial assistance mentioned above, may send the proposals in the prescribed proforma (enclosed) to Director (IR), Room No.279 A, North Block, New Delhi-1 by post or through e-mail at osdrti-dopt@nic.in . While submitting the proposal, a copy of the order for setting up the RTI Cell in the Public Authority may also be furnished.

3. O.M dated 19.05.2011 referred to above is available on the website of DOPT (persmin.nic.in > DOPT > OMs & Orders > RTI).

sd/-
(Sarita Nair)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

Source: persmin.nic.in
[http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02rti/1_12_2010-IR.pdf]