Rlwys to spend entire outlay of 1.21 lakh cr this year: Sinha

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said on Friday that Indian Railways will spend the entire allocated amount of Rs.1.21 lakh crore for this financial year.

“This year, Rs.1.21 lakh crore has been earmarked and I believe this year 100 percent of it will be spent. Last time Railway was not ready because there was sudden large scale investment. Railway officers were not prepared to work on large scale investment,” Sinha said at an ASSOCHAM event in New Delhi.

The Minister mentioned that during the past five years, the average investment in the Indian Railways had been to the tune of around Rs.46,000 crore, which was enhanced to Rs.1 lakh crore in the previous year, and out of that Rs.94,000 crore was spent.

“For the first time, LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) has provided Rs.1.5 lakh crore for the investment,” he said.

Sinha further said, “The ministry is working on overnight journey trains so that Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata can be covered overnight. Earlier, the train coaches were not designed that can suit overnight journeys but now it is being done.”

He said the investment by the government in infrastructure has encouraged growth in the economy.

“For developing the stations, we are in talks with the World Bank and today various Japanese firms have come to us for discussion,” he added.

Earlier, there had been corruption in the processes and that is being corrected now, he stated.

The Minister said the developmental activities are going on in the right direction. However, it will take time for these activities to show impact all over the country.