Suresh Prabhu seeks support to merge Railway budget with Union budget; writes to FM Jaitley

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recommending merger of Railway budget with the Union Budget, said a Hindustan Times report.

As per the report, Prabhu demanded to discontinue 92-year old practice of presenting separate Railway budget and include it in the general annual budget.

Giving the reason behind the separate Rail budget, Prabhu in the letter said that this will enable "formulation of National Transport Policy" and also it will avoid political pressures on Railways, the report said.

Prabhu wrote a letter to Jaitley after NITI Aayog's member Bibek Debroy recommended the same last month to Prime Minister Office.

Debroy wrote a note titled "Dispensing with the Rail Budget" to PMO, saying that this practice has failed to be useful for the sector, said a The Indian Express report.

Introduced by Britishers in 1924-25, to announce separate Railway Budget, over the years failed to tackle the issues of under-investment, Debroy had said in the note.

As per the Indian Express report, Debroy wrote, "The Railway Budget became a mechanism to announce popular measures, new trains, new routes, new rolling-stock manufacturing factories etc., with no concomitant focus on addressing Railways’ structural requirements, implementation of the ‘grand’ announcements, or funding needs".

During the end of June, Hindustan Times had reported that Prabhu has shown his support to Debroy, by saying that this move will be in the long-term interest of Indian Railways.

As per the report, if Niti Aayog recommendation is taken into the consideration, then in 2017, Prabhu will not present Railway Budget.