‘ Why should rail pay dividend?’

Lapping the recommendation of the parliamentary convention committee, railway minister Suresh Prabhu questioned the practice of the Railways paying dividends to the government at a time when the national transporter is financially overburdened, following the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission Report.

The Lok Sabha took up a discussion on the resolution to discuss the rate at which the Railways should pay the dividends to the government on the gross budgetary support ( GBS) extended to it in the Union Budget.

The Seventh Pay Commission Report’s implementation has given the Railways an additional financial burden of about ` 30,000 crore.

Making an intervention at the beginning of the discussion, Mr Prabhu noted that the Railways undertakes social obligations without being compensated, but it has now been “overburdened” financially.

“I would just like to make a point. This paying dividend to the finance ministry is one area which really needs to be looked into. Why should the Railway pay dividend? This has been a recommendation of the standing committee. There have been several unanimous recommendations on this by several standing committees that the Railways discharge very useful public functions,” Mr Prabhu noted in his bid to give a context and direction to the discussion in the Lok Sabha.

The minister posed the question before the House to examine how the Union Budget can actually subsidise or take care of the subsidies which are already there.