Railways facing acute cash crunch: Bansal

Indian Railways has failed to organise funds for completing its long list of pending projects, and finds it ''very difficult'' to complete projects at the desired pace as new schemes are announced in response to the demands of MPs, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The Railways is one of the departments where announcements are made for new projects on the demands of MPs, and as a result it was staring at a "humongous" financial commitment, Bansal said during question hour.

Faced with an acute funds crunch, the minister announced that projects, which are 50 per cent complete, would be taken up on a priority basis. He also urged state governments to share the cost.

The minister disclosed that the state-run transporter needs Rs147,187 crore for completing 347 pending projects relating only to laying of new tracks, gauge conversion and doubling of tracks.

Expressing helplessness to fund these projects, Bansal informed the house that in the past railways could manage only Rs5,000 crore annually for implementing all its projects.
"Railways is one department where we have been making various announcements for new projects in response to vociferous demands raised by MPs.

That has landed us in a situation where there is a humongous throw-forward of projects, both in physical terms and financial terms," he said.

Bansal argued that the due to large number of projects the financial spread has been thin, which is resulting in difficulty to finish work in time.