The decision to do away with the 92-year-old practice of presenting the Railway Budget and merge it with the Union Budget is a wrong policy that will clip the wings of Railways, Principal Adviser to the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation E. Sreedharan has said.

‘A foolish decision’

“It is a foolish decision on the part of the Union Railway Minister and the Railways will have to knock at the doors of the Finance Ministry for funds,” Mr. Sreedharan told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

The decision not to present a separate rail budget was not in the interest of the Railways and the country, Mr. Sreedharan said and pointed out that the utility had become a department similar to those of shipping, posts and aviation.

“One should not forget the vast assets of the Railways and they [the government] could have mobilised the funds by utilising the assets as surety,” he said.

Stating that Railways had lost its sheen and the budget would be a big disappointment, he said “all is lost” as the decision taken by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was irreversible. If consulted on the decision, he would have warned the Minister against the merger of the railway budget with the Union Budget.