Prabhu mulling grievance system for railway investors

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu told potential investors on Sunday that he is open to the idea of setting up a dispute redress mechanism to facilitate the entry of private industry in the sector.

He said, "The private sector wants to come in then they must have clarity. I think obviously there are going to be disputes. When you marry, nobody wants to get divorced but if at all you wanted to, then there must be a system by which you can get a divorce.

"Therefore a dispute redressal system ... a system whereby you resolve it before you get divorce, something has to be put in place. I am open for ideas as to how to set up such system, in place," he said at a CII conference in Delhi.

He was replying to industry representatives' questions on the rail budget.

He said that for greater private sector participation in the sector, "we have to move in a way that is doable".

He added, "A conflict of interest only happen because of policy and implementation being in the same hand ... there is a report we are expecting; when it comes in we can act on that."

To drive Indian Railways out of its "troubles", Prabhu has prescribed market borrowings, public-private partnerships and monetising assets to garner Rs8.5 lakh crore worth of resources over the next five years, even as he ruled out full privatisation of the railways.

Talking about tax-free bonds, the minister said that the finance minister would have to look into the details. "Some sort of debt could be opened...we have to wait for the details," he said.

When asked about organisational changes in the Indian Railways, he said that the ministry has prioritised the matters and is accordingly moving in that direction.

"What is important for you, we should not lose sight ... I would rather focus on the end product," Prabhu added.

On financing railway projects, the minister said that the government is working on several avenues.

"We have a very large amount of money which is committed for us. We will sign MoUs memorandums of understanding) in next 10-15 days," he said.

He also said that the IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering & Tourism) portal could fetch tremendous value, if monetised.

"IRCTC is 100 per cent owned by the Indian Railways. It gets the highest clicks. People use the portal. Close to 13 million people travel by railway every day, just imagine the potential value of this portal ... if we can actually monetise it properly, not sell it...we can use the intrinsic market value to put more resources back into the business," he said.

He did not mention the deep rot in the IRCTC, which is responsible for the catering service on long-distance trains and online bookings of tickets.

Talking about the importance of Indian Railways, he said that the sector has huge potential to contribute in the country's economic growth.

(Also see: Railways can add 2% to India's GDP, says Prabhu)