Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented “Rail Budget 2016” in Lok Sabha today. Unlike the earlier ones, this time, the budget has some interesting things, that deserves a discussion.
Notable issues of the Rail budget 2016:
- No hike in railway fares.
- Two dedicated freight corridors by 2019.
- 33% sub-quota for women under all reserved categories.
- Target to increase the advertising revenue by more than four times this year.
- India's first rail auto hub to come up in Chennai.
- Coolies will be called 'Sahayaks'.
- Children's menu, baby foods, baby boards to be made available for travelling mothers.
- Local cuisine of choice, hygienic food.
- WiFi in 100 stations this year and 400 other stations next year
- CCTV surveillance at all stations, 300 major stations covered this year
- Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2000 tickets a minute to 7200 a minute (to support 120,000 concurrent users)
- 400 stations to be re-developed through PPP
- The lower berth quota for senior citizens to be increased by 50%
Apart from the above, there are several other initiatives in the Rail budget 2016 announced today
Unlike the promises made in earlier budgets, this time, the budget concentrated on the completion of the ongoing projects, rather than announcing the new ones.
By Phani Ch
