india

Updated: Feb 21, 2019 14:07 IST

A parliamentary committee wants the railway ministry to create the body it has long promised to, that will, among other things, regulate fares.

In its latest report, the Railway Convention Committee of Parliament maintained that since the proposed authority is yet to take a final shape, “consideration of suitable subsidy sharing mechanism is yet to begin.”

Parties in power rarely increase passenger fares, irrespective of the carrier’s financial health , given the political ramifications of such a move. The idea to set up an independent body to suggest fare hikes and other reforms was mooted during the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) tenure.

In April 2017, the NDA government first approved the setting up of the Rail Development Authority (RDA), to make “Pricing of services commensurate with costs, suggest measures for enhancement of Non Fare Revenue, protection of consumer interests, by ensuring quality of service and cost optimization, promoting competition, efficiency and economy”, among other things.

The RDA didn’t start functioning and railway ministry officials recently suggested that the creation of the body could take even more time, with parliamentary elections around the corner.

The House panel, led by BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab, noted that “in view of the fact that the principals of sharing subsidies/ social costs involve reimbursement of such costs to the railways by finance ministry and other departments, the committee stress that the process of establishment of the proposed Railway Regulatory Authority be expedited.”

The Parliamentary panel supported the idea of the merger of the rail budget with the general budget—a practice started since 2017—but expressed concern that a decision to demarcate between commercial and social activities of the Indian rail and the reimbursement of the social service obligation has not been done so far.