The Railways is on a major capital expenditure drive with Rs 82,000 crore of orders being placed even as it is taking a slew of steps to upgrade customer service including clean stations, e-catering and improved software for ticket booking, according to Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu.
Prabhu was addressing the 95th Annual Session of ASSOCHAM held in New Delhi on Tuesday (24 November).
“The Railways’ capex spend would including Rs 40,000 crore order with the GE which is the largest order for the global conglomerate. As many as 103 announcements made in the Railway Budget for 2015-16 have been implemented with several stations showing marked improvement in cleanliness.” ,” Prabhu said.
The minister said that capital expenditure of Rs one lakh crore on building new infrastructure would be spent within the current financial year in the most transparent manner.
In Railways, all decisions are being taken at the professional levels and the minister is not involved in a single rupee worth of tender.
With 1.3 million employees, the Railways is also putting in place a transparent Transfer and Posting policy along with a fair system of recruitment.
The government’s Digital India programme is being used by the Railways in providing e-catering with new facilities like base kitchens being created, he added.
Money has been raised from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at a rate cheaper than the G-Secs, the minister said.
Prabhu said if things go as planned with capex spend and Railways activity gets a boost, this alone could contribute between two and 2.5 per cent to the India’s GDP.
BW Reporters
Haider Ali Khan is an alumnus of IIMC. He holds a degree in English Journalism from the prestigious campus. His passion includes Aviation, Technology, Politics and Sports.
