The Hindu Business Line : `Lalu must not burden industry more by hiking freight'

WITH the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, all set to present the second Railway Budget of the United Progressive Alliance Government in Parliament tomorrow, there is considerable curiosity on whether he would hike passenger fares or alter freight tariff alone.

Since passenger fares have not been hiked for the past three years, industry segments feel that the Minister should balance his books by looking at this aspect instead of adding further burden on the freight users.

While both passenger and freight earnings are likely to cross the budgetary estimates for this fiscal, they are not going to be enough to generate monies for the urgently required capital to fund the expansion plans of Railways.

Track renewals, modernisation and acquisition of the rolling stock, maintenance and the crucial aspect of railway safety are the priority areas for the railways for which adequate provisioning has to be made, industry segments pointed out.

With the economy in the growth mode, the demand for transportation is high and unless the railways can meet this demand, there is every possibility of freight moving away from it to other modes of transportation including road transport and shipping.

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