Privatization of Railway starts up with Kayakalp PPP and Reliance has to make profit all the way!
Trade unions compromised as apart from Tata Group's Chairman Emeritus, the Kaya Kalp council also have two railway union leaders Shiv Gopal Mishra and M Raghuvaiah.
Excalibur Stevens Biswas
Railway employees might not be aware of.The greatest public sector service,the greatest lifeline worldwide,is being parivatised.As the privatisation privatisation just started before the recommendations of Debroy panel have to be legislated.Thus,Reliance Industries Ltd, controlled by India's richest man, has started selling diesel to the state railways for the first time since 2005/06 after pricing of the fuel was freed, a company source said on Wednesday.
Mind you,The railway has already floated global tenders for the Rs 2500 crore project involving procurement-cum-maintenance contract for 15 Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) Train Sets.
Eticket booking ,catering,cionstruction and Railway related services have already been handed over to Private players.
Mind you,Indian Railways, the country's biggest diesel guzzler, consumes up to 2.5 million tonnes of the fuel each year. Until last year, it received supplies from state refiners who used to be compensated for selling fuel at below-market rates.
State refiners in turn lose the greatst client and public sector has to bear the burn.
Mind you,meanwhile the government freed diesel pricing last October, providing a level playing field to private companies like Reliance and Essar Oil.
It means profit making all the way for Reliance.
The Reliance source, who was not authorised to speak on the record, said the company has been selling a 'small quantity' of diesel to the railways.
Earlier,even before the Debroy panel report to privatize Indian Railway was made public,it had been decided that the Noted industrialist Ratan Tata would head a new innovative council of Indian Railways, called 'Kaya Kalp', formed to turn around the ailing state-run rail network.
Now try to understand who makes policy for this government and what remains the role of the Parliament as well as what is the relevance of legislation at all.
Trade unions compromised as apart from Tata Group's Chairman Emeritus, the Kaya Kalp council also have two railway union leaders Shiv Gopal Mishra and M Raghuvaiah.
Mr Tata will head the Kaya Kalp council, while General Secretaries of All-India Railwaymen Federation and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen will also be the members of the council, according to railway spokesperson.
On 21st June this year,in a major shift, the Indian Railway has decided to hand over maintenance of Train Sets it has proposed to buy to the private player which would supply the rakes, a responsibility hitherto shouldered by the public transporter.
The railway has already floated global tenders for the Rs 2500 crore project involving procurement-cum-maintenance contract for 15 Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) Train Sets.
A Train Set comprises coaches or rail cars where each coach is powered by a dedicated propulsion system, doing away with the need to have a locomotive haul the train.
According to the conditions in the bidding document, the selected bidder will manufacture and supply 15 EMU Train Sets comprising about 315 rail cars over a period of about 4-5 years and undertake maintenance thereafter for seven years.
The maintenance of a train involves checking of the braking system, wheel, bogies, ACs, electrical equipment, pantograph, electric motors and cleaning among others.
Till now, maintenance has been the preserve of the Indian Railway, while cleaning activities have been outsourced.
On 15th July this year,the dry bulk cargo terminal at Tuna Tekra near Kandla port was connected with railway network of the country as Railway Minister Suresh Prabhy flagged off the first goods train on Gandhidham-Tuna Tekra through remote-control system from Rail Bhavan in New Delhi .
This is second non-government railway line in Gujarat after one connecting Pipapav port in Amreli. The 17.55 km-long broad gauge railway line is a private rail and has been constructed at the cost of Rs185 crore. Kandla Port Trust (KPT) which manages Kandla port and Adani Port and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) of Adani Group have funded the railway project.
Construction of the new line started in May 2014 and it was completed within a year.
KPT and APSEZ has built a dry cargo terminal off Tuna Tekra, some four km away from Tuna port on public private partnership (PPP) mode.
The KPT has awarded the project to APSEZ on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis for a period of 30 years.
Adani Kandla Bulk Terminal Private Limited (AKBTPL), a subsidiary of APSEZ has built the cargo terminal at the cost of approximately Rs1,200 crore while KPT has also spent around Rs200 crore for one-time dredging at the terminal. At any given time, four vessels can dock the terminal which has capacity to handle 14 million metric tonns per annum (MMTPA) cargo. The terminal was commissioned in February this year.
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