Ending Rail Budget is Prabhu’s first step in the right direction

TIL Desk Business/New Delhi-There is a strong likelihood that we have seen the last of the Railway Budget. The only person who can oppose the idea of ending the legacy practice of having a separate Budget for the railways is the railway minister of the day. But Suresh Prabhu wants to bury the venerable institution.

The greatest plus of abolishing the Railway Budget is to do away with the chance it gives the railway minister of the day to grandstand before the nation and Parliament for an hour or more, when he feels obliged to announce a few new passenger trains and avoid raising passenger fares.

This has severely damaged the financial health of the organisation over the years. If there is no Budget on which all attention is focused, fares can be raised with minimum fuss and fanfare. Sans Budget, key business decisions can be taken without them being politicised. This should, over time, put the Railways on a firmer commercial footing, leading to better financial health.