India could spend up to $12 billion in upgrading the signalling system on its entire rail network over the next six years to the contemporary European Train Control System (or ETCS), rail minister Piyush Goyal said in an interview.

The contract for the entire 60,000 route km will be given in one go, he added, and companies will be encouraged to make in India. Goyal expects this, and the significant economies of scale that will come about given the volume of the contract to actually result in the eventual cost coming down from $12 billion.

“I am promoting Make in India, providing jobs to people, and preparing India to export this technology to the whole world, because we will become the cheapest source,” Goyal said.

The legacy signalling system of the Indian Railways is seen as one factor compromising the safety of the rail network. Another is the poor state of tracks. Goyal said in the year to March 31, the railways would have relaid 4,300 km of track and that it will catch up with its backlog for track relaying and maintenance by the end of 2019 or the middle of 2020.

Safety was one of his primary priorities when he took over in September last year, Goyal said, and it remains so. “The other is to bring the charm back to rail travel,” he added.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/12-billion-in-six-years-big-upgrade-in-works-for-safer-railways-says-piyush-goyal/story-HT1jX3DIEdwaOioWLpkuwM.html

Concerned over cases of maintenance workers being run over by trains while patrolling the tracks, the Railway Board has now decided to add a personal safety device to their gear, along with their usual boots, gloves, rain coats, winter jackets and tool kit. The board, last week gave its nod to ‘Rakshak’ – a handheld walkie-talkie device – to be used in high density areas as a pilot project for all trackmen. The device provides alerts through LED indication along with a buzzer and vibration of approaching trains which would help trackmen move away from tracks. “Keeping in view the large number of run-over cases of trackmen that occur during discharge of their duty on track, putting in pace a ‘Rakshak’-type protection system is essential and needs to be expeditiously implemented. “However, since the system is still in infancy stage, deployment on entire rail network may not be feasible right now.

However, keeping in view large number of run-over cases, it has been decided to deploy ‘Rakshak’-type protection system on the entire high density network on a crash basis,” the board said in a letter to all zonal railways, a copy of which is with PTI. Rakshak has been deployed in South Central Railways on a 24-km stretch and has been successful in pre-warning trackmen about incoming trains. The board, taking congnisance of the recommendations made by a committee of general managers appointed to suggest ways to improve the working condition of trackmen including their uniform and tool kit, said that the device adopted by SCR has been found useful. Railway unions which have pushed for such protection for the trackmen for years say that around 400 trackmen die annually after being run over by trains.

In more good news, along with the Rs 5,000 annual dress maintenance approved by the 7th Pay Commission, trackmen will also be compensated for their shoes, gloves and other climatic requirements they need to do their job in adverse conditions. They will now be compensated by their respective divisions for raincoats, safety helmets, tool kit bag, LED torch once a year, winter jackets, snow boots caps for sub zero temperatures, once in two years and safety shoes and luminous vests once every six months, the Railway Board letter said. Indian Railways, which maintains 115,000 km of track around the country, is manned by around 2 lakh trackmen.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/infrastructure/railways/railways-to-provide-personal-safety-tool-rakshak-for-trackmen/1061717/

Thank you very much Mr Acharya. At the outset, permit me to introduce Suresh Kumarji, additional secretary in the Ministry of Coal; Sharad Acharya, of course, you all know has been CMD of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, which is now NLC India Limited, Madam Sharan has joined as Chief of PIB in the Coal and Railway Ministry.

I have four colleagues here, Mr Animesh Bharti, joint secretary; Mr Rajesh Sinha, joint secretary; Mr Niranjan Kumar Sudhanshu, joint secretary; and Ms Reena Sinha, joint secretary. Coal secretary is travelling today; we also have the finance director of NLC Limited, and the HR director, Vikram.

Why I introduce everybody is even after the press conference is over, I would encourage you to talk to all my colleagues, if you have any questions or anything that you want more detailed clarification, I am sure they will all be delighted to interact with you.

कई बार यह मेरे ऊपर आरोप लगता है कि मैं कोयले के पत्रकारों से मिलता नहीं हूँ जितना मिलना चाहिए तो मुझे लगा कि अच्छा रहेगा कि थोड़ा बीच-बीच में हम लोग मिलते रहें और इस आरोप से मैं मुक्ति पाऊँ|

तो कल जब आचार्या साहब मेरे पास आये थे और अपना रिपोर्ट कार्ड बता रहे थे किस प्रकार से गत तीन-साढ़े तीन वर्षों में ऐतिहासिक परिवर्तन NLC में हुआ है तो मुझे लगा कि यह वास्तव में unsung story है भारत के कोयले और लिग्नाइट के कामकाज में| आप सबका भी ध्यान आकर्षित रहता है कोल इंडिया के ऊपर, स्वाभाविक है बड़ी कंपनी है, बड़ा वर्चस्व है, लेकिन एक छोटे से ऑपरेशन से कैसे चीज़ बड़ी हो सकती है और आगे चलकर जिसके…

There is a lot of talk and lot of interest in what is happening with Coal India Limited, but somehow, over the years, we have neglected to see the outstanding and historic performance that NLC India Limited has been quietly in a subtle fashion been achieving over the last three and a half years. And I thought it deserves recognition, as he said, recognition is the greatest motivator. So, the idea is that we should all know what’s happening and what the ambitious plans of NLC are going forward.

I remember, about two years ago or two and a half years ago, I visited NLC and they were making a perspective plan of what they are planning by 2025. And at that point of time, we re-wrote the entire future agenda of NLC, collectively, between the management and the department. And I am delighted to share with you that they have truly given some outstanding results in the last three years.

If I may venture to highlight some of the significant achievements, their mining capacity increased from 41 million tonnes per annum in March 2014 to 61.6 million tonnes – nearly a 20 million tonne increase in the last three and a half years, in mining that’s not a small achievement. And within that, the coal mining capacity almost tripled from 11 million tonnes to 31 million tonnes, so now they are becoming a significant player in coal mining, which I think many people never realized it. And they already have some more mines which are soon going to be opened up, which will take this probably to 50 or 60 million tonnes. So, effectively, they will almost once again double this 31 million tonnes capacity.

In power generation, they have been able to double in the last 4 years. From 2700 MW to 5700 MW by March 2018, so literally, from March 2014 to March 2018 they would have more than doubled the power generation capacity of NLC Limited. Out of that, 90% increase has been there in the thermal power capacity that they have, from 2740 MW to 5200 MW. But in solar energy, their plan by 2025 is to rapidly scale up to 13,700 MW, by 2025, so over the next 7 years they are going to add nearly 13,000 MW of capacity – 13,700 will be the total, of which solar will be 4000 MW.

They are now investing in solar assets, so that they can also become a serious player in the renewable energy sector. They are also having a discussion and dialogue with the Indian railways. Indian railways plans to have a bidding process to soon come out for expanding the solar footprint of railways where also NLC is having very aggressive plans and will be bidding very aggressively to try and win those contracts through the bidding process.

So, renewable energy, they already have about 191 MW today, it will become 300 MW by March 2018, and by 2025, it’s actually 4,250 MW that they are planning. So, almost 24% of their 13,700 MW will be renewable energy.

There is also a discussion going on between government of West Bengal to get approval for transferring the Raghunathpur power plant from DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation) to NLC Limited, for which we are awaiting approval from the government of West Bengal for almost 2 years now. So, if they had given us permission two years ago, by now we could have actually started that Raghunathpur plant and it would have started serving the people of India.

Unfortunately, DVC has a precarious financial position, and doesn’t have adequate PPAs, because of which that plant is almost at a standstill. I would urge the West Bengal government to give us approval, so we can transfer the Raghunathpur power plant.

I am also very happy to look at the performance that they have achieved in recent times. Last year, 2016-17, they achieved the highest ever performance, both physical and financial, since inception of the company 60 years ago. The lignite production was about 27.6 million tonnes, 8.5% growth over the previous year, power generation was 21 billion units, about 9.65% growth over the previous year. Turnover increased to 8,672 crores, which is 30% increase over the previous year. Profit Before Tax increased to 3,027 crores – an increase of 57% over the previous year, and the Profit After Tax 2,369 crores – an increase of 96% over the previous year. Because of better financial management and their capex plans they were able to enjoy more depreciation, bring down the tax burden and increase their PAT by 96%.

The dividend that they gave was 73.4%, which is nearly 30% more than the previous year. It just gives you a sense of the level of growth within one year. The average PLF of their thermal plants was 74% despite having a 55-year old plant; in that 55-year old plant also PLF was 70%. Now, of course, they are replacing that 55-year old plant with a modern plant. The new plant should be up and about soon and then the old plant will be phased out to reduce the impact on environment.

The contribution to the national exchequer was 4,965 crores, as against 1,975 crores in the previous year – an increase of 151%. So they are contributing to providing healthcare, they are contributing to provide free electricity connections under Soubhagya, they are contributing to provide free LPG connections under Ujjwala. NLC has become an important element of the national effort to serve the poor, serve the marginalized and deprived sections of society by contributing two and a half times what they were doing earlier to the national exchequer.

Apart from that, they are also providing water in very large measure to Chennai city. No, no, it’s a indirect comment I am making. When NLC pays higher amount to the national exchequer, you have more funds with the central government and the state governments to be able to serve the poor. It’s not that they are funding Soubhagya, that’s being funded by the central government. But I am saying when they contribute more, indirectly they are contributing to serve the poor, because budget gets that much more strength and funds.

In the current year, this pace of growth is going to continue and even in terms of CSR, in terms of giving water to the people of Chennai, which is usually always suffering from water shortages. In terms of spending on learning and development initiatives, skill development, in terms of research and development, in every parameter their plans are to aggressively grow spending, grow investments by NLC Limited. Skill development alone, they have increased their spending in the last 3 years from 4.5 crores to 10 crores. That is the level of scale-up.

I am delighted to share with you that the market cap of this company has grown from 10,259 crores in March 2014 to 16,409 crore as on March 2017, giving a growth of nearly 60% in market cap. Similarly, the share price increased from Rs 61 to Rs 107 in this 3-year period.

The employee cost as a percentage of turnover fell from 36.78% to 26.46%, showing greater efficiency and showing the employee cost as a percentage of total cost reducing from 46.6% to 37.37%. So, really more efficiency, more productivity in the public sector units is a matter of great satisfaction for all of us. And their return on net worth has gone up from 10.82% to 19.66% – 81% growth in return on net worth.

All in all, it shows a very good robust financial performance, a great amount of consciousness to provide for the future of the country – power, water availability, more jobs for people through mining, through new power plants coming up. They are now setting up a power plant Ghatampur in Uttar Pradesh, which will be a 1,980 MW power plant to serve the northern region. So, they are moving out of south, having a footprint in the east, if they get the permission for Raghunathpur plant, having a footprint in Ghatampur, serving northern India and truly becoming a pan-India Navratna, which India can be proud of, which the people of India can be proud of, becoming a catalyst to accelerate economic growth of India, developing more and more renewable energy, clean energy, showing sensitivity to climate change, creating new jobs for people across the country.

And, in some sense, meeting the promise or the vision of Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar whose view was that the state should provide protection against economic exploitation – by such good performance, our PSUs are showing even to the private sector what good management is, how good companies are run and making sure that the entire power landscape in India continues to be affordable, competitive and reaching out to the poorest sections of the country.

I just thought it will be good to share this success story with all of you and I do hope it will make each one of you feel proud that our government companies can also give such earth-shattering results as NLC India Limited has done.

Thank you very much.

 

Question and Answer

Q: सर power plants में CRE का जो कोयले का storage होता है power plants के लिए वह shortage हो रहा है, कई ऐसे power plants हैं, क्योंकि अब गर्मी भी शुरू होने वाली है, winter भी जा रहा है, ऐसे में अपनी क्या कुछ तैयारी है खासकर कोयले के उत्पादन को लेकर| और दूसरा सवाल यह है कि जो MP हैं तृणमूल कांग्रेस के, डेरेक ओ ब्रायन, उन्होंने लेटर लिखा है आपको तो क्या कुछ उसपर …?

A: मुझे तो चिट्ठी नहीं लिखी है, वह शायद मार्किट में चिट्ठियां लिख रहे हैं, मुझे लिखने में डरते हैं क्योंकि फिर उनका फर्दाफाश हो जायेगा|

Q: हाँ तो उनका चिट्ठी जिस तरह से आया सर?

A: उनका तो कुछ शायद एनडीटीवी पर ही आया है, एनडीटीवी की वेबसाइट पर, और तो मुझे किधर देखने को मिला नहीं| लेकिन असलियत यह है कि डेरेक ओ ब्रायन बहुत कम जानकारी रखते हैं, मुझे दुःख होता है कि इतना सीनियर पार्लियामेंटेरियन होते हुए उनकी समझ इतनी कमज़ोर है कि कुछ-कुछ बेबुनियाद चीज़ों पर वह प्रश्न उठा रहे हैं| उदाहरण के लिए ऑपरेटिंग रेश्यो की बात उन्होंने उठाई है, अब ऑपरेटिंग रेश्यो की बात उठाते हुए वह यह भूल जाते हैं बताना कि यह उनकी पार्टी थी ममता बनर्जी जब रेलवे मिनिस्टर थी और दिनेश त्रिवेदी बाद में रेलवे मिनिस्टर बने जिन्होंने रेलवेज के finances को सुधारने के लिए कुछ योजना बनाई तो बेचारे को जॉब से ही निकाल दिया, उनको मंत्री पद से ही हटा दिया ममता बनर्जी जी ने|

तो उनको तो कोई अधिकार नहीं बनता है ऑपरेटिंग रेश्यो और एफिशिएंसी की चर्चा करने, वह तो वास्तव में रेस्पोंसिबल हैं रेलवेज को आज की इस परिस्थिति में पहुँचाने के लिए| अब पूरे देश में मेट्रो हर एक स्टेट गवर्नमेंट की है, स्टेट गवर्नमेंट चलाती है, ममता बनर्जी जी जब थोड़े ही अरसे के लिए रेलवे मिनिस्टर बनी उन्होंने उठाकर कोलकाता की मेट्रो रेलवे के सर पर डाल दी और रेलवे का बर्डन बना दिया उसका लॉस| तो इसकी ज़िम्मेदारी उसके लॉस की जो आज पूरे देश के लोगों को भुगतनी पड़ रही है उसकी ज़िम्मेदारी तो सीधा-सीधा ममता बनर्जी और उनकी पार्टी पर जाता है|

तो उनकी सोच इतनी सीमित है, और वह डेरेक ओ ब्रायन की सोच भी मुझे लगता है वहीँ से आती है| मुझे उनके कोई भी 12 क्वेश्चन में कोई ऐसा तत्व नहीं दिखा जिसमें कुछ जवाब दें, अभी उन्होंने डेप्रिसिएशन रिज़र्व फंड के लिए कहा, उन्होंने कहा कि डेप्रिसिएशन रिज़र्व फंड को रिड्यूस कर दिया है 5,000 करोड़ से 500 करोड़| अब उनको क्या बताएं उनको पढ़ना शायद आता नहीं है रेलवे डॉक्यूमेंट और बजट के डॉक्यूमेंट, पहेल सीधा बजट से 5,000 करोड़ डेप्रिसिएशन फंड में आता था उसके बदले अभी हमने रेलवे से प्रोवाइड किया| तो 5,000 करोड़ सेम अमाउंट है लेकिन दुर्भाग्य से उनकी समझ शायद इसमें कम हैं उसकी जानकारी चाहिए तो रेलवे के कोई अधिकारी को बुलाया जा सकता है जो उसकी डिटेल में जानकारी दे देंगे|

अब यह CAGR was 6% from ‘000 to ‘14, and  down to 2% as per my calculation, तो मेहरबानी करके वह अपनी calculations देश के समक्ष रख दें क्योंकि उनकी calculations हमारे रिकॉर्ड तो बता नहीं रहे हैं, तो अब उनकी कैसे calculation उनके पास कोई नया इकोनॉमिक मॉडल होगा जैसे जब चिदंबरम साहब पार्लियामेंट में बजट में बोल रहे थे तो उन्होंने कहा कि fiscal imprudence यह सरकार ने किया| अब हमने तो 3.2% फिस्कल डेफिसिट घाटा घटाया, महंगाई घटाई, फिस्कल डेफिसिट घटाया, करंट अकाउंट डेफिसिट घटाया, इकोनॉमिक ग्रोथ सुधारी, अगर इसको वह fiscal imprudence बोलते हैं तो जो 6% उनके समय में फिस्कल डेफिसिट थी, जो महंगाई डबल डिजिट थी, जो इकोनॉमिक ग्रोथ 5.5% पर आ गयी थी वह ज्यादा समझदारी और अच्छा काम था तो यह एक नयी इकोनॉमिक्स है जो हम सबको सीखना पड़ेगा|

और जब वह बोल रहे थे तो डेरेक ओ ब्रायन बड़ी तालियाँ मार रहे थे पार्लियामेंट में, तो मुझे लगता है कांग्रेस और तृणमूल कांग्रेस, दोनों एक तरीके की समझ रखते हैं और दोनों को इस समझ के लिए जनता ने अच्छा सबक सिखाया है और आगे चलकर और सिखाएगी| इनके सभी प्रश्न ऐसे ही हैं, कुछ मुझे कोई तत्व दिखता नहीं है|

यह कह रहे हैं कि separate railway budget निकाला, favoritism to particular states के लिए| सही बात है क्योंकि आप सब जानते हो कि अनाप शनाप घोषणाएं होती थी सिर्फ राजनीतिक घोषणाएं जैसे ममता जी करती थी रेलवे मिनिस्टर के नाते, लेकिन वह कोई कार्यान्वित होती नहीं थी| हम जो कहते हैं वह करते हैं, उनके समय का कैपेक्स निकाल लो और हमारे समय का निकाल लो, आपको ज़मीन-आसमान का फर्क दिखेगा, जिसको अंग्रेजी में chalk and cheese कहते हैं|

तो वह पहले जवाब दें कि जब वह रेलवे मंत्री थी तब उनके फाइनेंस मिनिस्टर उनको पैसे क्यों नहीं देते थे, तब क्यों नहीं कैपेक्स होता था? तब सुरक्षा के ऊपर 73,000 करोड़ जो हम खर्च रहे हैं इस साल सेफ्टी में, तब क्यों नहीं ममता जी ने किया? क्यों इतनी बुरी हालत में मुझे इंडियन रेलवेज, 2014 में इस सरकार को मिली विरासत में? उस सबकी ज़िम्मेदार सीधा-सीधा तृणमूल कांग्रेस और कांग्रेस पार्टी है, जवाब तो उनको देना है|

और यह कह रहे हैं कि एलोकेशन कम हो गया बजट में, वास्तव में वेस्ट बंगाल के लिए सबसे ज्यादा एलोकेशन हुआ है, जबकि वहां खर्चना सबसे मुश्किल है, न वह ज़मीन देने में हमें मदद करते हैं, न कोई कोऑपरेशन करते हैं जब प्रोजेक्ट लगाना हो| मेट्रो पर हम सुधार कर रहे हैं, उसको बढ़ा रहे हैं उसमें हमको लैंड लेकर नहीं देते हैं|

पूरी नॉन-कोऑपरेशन है वेस्ट बंगाल सरकार की, बेबुनियाद बात करते हैं उनके सांसद और उनकी राज्य सरकार और पूरी तरीके से ज़िम्मेदारी उनके ऊपर है कि रेलवे का विस्तार नहीं हो पा रहा है| उसके बावजूद सभी राज्यों में सबसे ज्यादा पैसा वेस्ट बंगाल को allot हुआ है जो जानकारी भी हमारे अधिकारी आपको दे सकते हैं| क्योंकि उनको पढ़ना नहीं आता है बजट तो शायद उनकी समझ के हिसाब से वह समझ नहीं पाए होंगे| और अगर उनको लगता है कम है तो मैं वास्तव में कम कर देता हूँ और बहुत स्टेट्स हैं जो कोआपरेट करके अपने वहां पर काम तेज़ गति से बढ़ाना चाहते हैं| तो वह तय कर लें कि वह अगर कोआपरेट करेंगे, ज़मीन देंगे तो पैसा खर्चा हो पायेगा, नहीं तो सिर्फ वह राजनीति करते रहेंगे तो कोई फायदा नहीं होगा|

बाकी सब ऐसे ही कुछ चीज़ें उन्होंने रेज किये हैं| वैसे रेलवेज पर अलग से चर्चा होने वाली है अगले सत्र में तो उस सत्र में इस सबका जवाब दूंगा, वह चीखते-चिल्लाते रहे कि एफएम ने क्यों नहीं जवाब दिया, एफएम को बड़ी पिक्चर देश के सामने रखनी होती है| 50 सांसद या 40 सांसद जो बोले हर एक के हर विषय पर नहीं जो डिपार्टमेंट का विषय है वह हम सब जवाब देंगे उसका|

तो इनके यह पहले 6 क्वेश्चन और मैंने बाद के भी 6 देखे, कोई तत्व मुझे तो उसमें दिख नहीं रहा है|

Each of the bullet train project cost 180 crores, DFC, the Aaloo Sabzi Corridor cost 23 crore a kilometer! अब इतनी कम समझ रखने वाले आदमी को क्या आदमी जवाब दे| DFC ordinary जो regular railway line है वह ज़मीन पर लगती है, बुलेट ट्रेन एलिवेटेड होती है, underground समुद्र में tunnel के through जाती है जिससे passengers को safety, security सुनिश्चित हो जाये| बुलेट ट्रेन की स्पीड 350 किलोमीटर तक जाती है, DFC की स्पीड जो regular 100-150, जिसमें goods train तो और कम होती है| तो अब दुर्भाग्य से नासमझ आदमी को मैं educate करते रहूँ, वह मैं House में कर दूंगा|

प्रश्न: सर कोयले को लेकरके जो पॉवर प्लांट्स को देना था, काफी shortage काफी प्लांट्स में सर उसकी तैयारी को लेकर?

उत्तर: वह तो स्वाभाविक है कि, बहुत अच्छी बात है कि डिमांड पहली बार बढ़ रहा है, मैं तो दो साल से परेशान था कि कोयले के स्टॉक बढ़ते जा रहे थे, डिमांड कोयले की कम थी| आप जानते हो 1 अप्रैल 2017 को 69 million tonnes, I had 69 million tonnes stock, उसको पहले liquidate करना पड़ा और production को regulate करना पड़ा, कम करना पड़ा|

I had to reduce production of coal, because the states were not lifting coal and stocking up to the desired level as stipulated by the Central Electricity Authority. Now they have started lifting, so obviously, we will start increasing production. In the meantime, there has been a supreme court order because of which many new mines’ EC has not been available, which we are trying to sort out between the Environment Ministry, Mining Ministry and the Coal Ministry. I think in the next few days that will get sorted out, and then we will be able to quickly ramp up production further.

Q: 

Secretary: The water comes out of all three mines is divided for irrigation, because the local population there in (inaudible) and surrounding areas, they keep on demanding for that and Chennai required water mostly in December time, it’s more, so we increase depending on the requirement. Because once we send that side, and for irrigation also this side needs to be (inaudible). So, depending on the requirement we (inaudible), but at present we are giving something around 14 million litres a day.

Q: Sir, sometime back you had mentioned that all vacant land of the railways will be used for setting up solar power, and you had said that NLC will be given the responsibility for it, sir is there an update on that?

A: Yeah, after discussions in the railway board, and rightly so, the railway board took a decision let’s do competition. If NLC is giving us a certain offer, let’s see if some other people give us even better offer than that, which I thought was a very good idea. It is aligned with my own thinking. So, railway board is planning to come out with a RFP, and we will be asking all companies to compete and then NLC will have to compete in that. And he has assured me that he will compete aggressively, so that he also benefits, I mean ‘he’ as in NLC also benefits and the railways also benefits by low cost of power.

It will be about 3000 odd, roughly 3000 MW is it?

Secretary: Yes, they indicated something around 1,500 MW now, and in future also further second stage will be there.

A: So, total will be about 3000 MW. We may do two-stage bidding, right now we will do 1,500, because prices are falling so who knows we may get it cheaper second time around.

Q:

Secretary: In fact, this is the plant where we awarded the (inaudible) package within 7 days after getting the PIB clearance. So, the boiler package is by L&T, MHP, and then the turbine package is by GE, and (inaudible) plant by BGR. And the works were going on full swing, but after the elections, new government came in. There was some disturbance for a period of two months from Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor union, now it has been sorted out. We are getting all government help, work is going on full swing, and whatever is lost in two months we are trying to make it up. We will make it up.

A: In seven days after PIB clearance to give an order itself is a new style of working that this company has shown.

Q: Sir, is the railways prepared to supply 288 rakes of coal per day, as estimated by the (inaudible)?

A: Right now, we had about 260 – plus or minus 5 or 10, we are ramping up to go up to 300 and going further forward, Coal India has taken an in-principle decision to start owning their own rakes. And over the next 5 to 7 years, there is a very ambitious plan to own the total rake requirement of Coal India Limited for which railways is now coming out with a new scheme for anybody who wants to own their own rakes. That will ensure that rake availability will never be a problem for coal supply by Coal India. It will also encourage private sector to participate by owning their own rakes and lessen the burden on railways while expanding economic activity in the county. So, my own sense is you will see a lot of jobs being created in the entire ecosystem around the railways in the next few months and years.

I was doing one assessment according to which nearly 3 million people, 30 lakh people, will get work in the ecosystem of the railways as all these projects start getting activated.

Q: Sir, for 5 to 7 years?

A: For what? For Coal India to own its own rakes? 5 to 7 years, we don’t have that much manufacturing capacity in India.

Q: solar-operated किया गया है, DMU trains जो हैं उसको solar-operated किया गया है….?

A: DMU trains वाला मामला तो चला नहीं, वह फेल हो गया तो हमने बंद कर दिया है वह|

Q: तो क्या है overall योजना और उसमें NLC का participation भी आप कह रहे हैं और भी ….?

A: वह तो बिडिंग में जो चुनकर आएगा उसका participation रहेगा और योजना यह है कि जो कम से कम खर्चे में हमारी ज़मीन पर या खुद की ज़मीन पर अलग-अलग उसके पहलू होंगे, हमें बिजली उपलब्ध कराए तो हमारी बिजली का खर्चा भी कम होगा रेलवे का| तो कोशिश है कि हम हर चीज़ में efficiently रेलवेज को चलायें| और हमें डिस्ट्रीब्यूशन लाइसेंस होने के कारण जब मैं विद्युत मंत्री था रेलवेज को डिस्ट्रीब्यूशन लाइसेंस दिया था तो हम अपनी खुद की बिजली जब बनाते हैं तो हमें कोई एक्स्ट्रा चार्ज नहीं लगता है उसके ऊपर|

Q: Private project, are there any more stressed assets or other private projects you are looking to…(inaudible)?

Secretary: Yes, for the stressed power assets, we had taken out three rounds of expressions of interest and we had shortlisted two, one was DVC which our (inaudible) are mentioned. All the formalities, including the JV agreement was created two years back and we got the clearance from Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Power and, of course, till date the consent from the government of West Bengal is awaited. Because DVC was created as a corporation, but West Bengal government also has its stake. The other property is the new property of GMR Chhattisgarh, so that was, in fact, taken over by the lenders. We have been in talks with the lenders, due diligence is complete, but recently the SDR route is closed. And now, they come out with the expression of bids, bidding as a government company we had some limitations, but yes, we have suggested a model where if lenders could come by converting the debt into a part of equity, we will come in as a major equity partner and then we will run the power station and the dividend could be shared. Let us see if the model works out, this will also work out.

Q: Sir, actually what happened that after allocation of solar power companies had bid at some rate that this much for one unit, per unit…

A: You will have to address that to the Power Minister please, I am not the Power Minister admin.

Q: I am asking Mr Acharya, my question directed to Mr Acharya, he is in solar power. So, after that custom duty on solar panels have been increased and some companies are saying that they may not provide power at that cost, so does NLC also face this kind of problem, what’s your take on it?

Secretary: No, not as of today. Because the investment is made at what point of time, it matters. The first pilot project of 10 MW we made, the cost was something around 7.5 crores per MW that time and we got Rs 7.10 PPA, that’s still being honored. The next slot of 130 MW we got again through (inaudible) tarrif, Rs 5.10 and the investment that time something was around Rs 5 crores if I remember per MW. And now, through competitive bidding, we own (inaudible), that is for Rs 4.21. And, the work has already started there, so this new thing will not affect that. And 709 MW, we got again through a competitive bidding with falling tariff at Rs 3.47. So, now Rs 7.10 we started, now it is Rs 3.47, but the solar modules and panels since at this point of time are becoming cheaper for investment, so now including 15 years maintenance, the cost is 4.5 crores per MW.

Q: Sir, talking about coal, I want to know one information from anyone of your side, what is the mining cost of coal in NLC?

A: There cannot be any fixed mining cost gentleman, it depends on mine to mine – what is the stripping ratio, what is the cost of land in that region, how deep the mine is, so this cannot be a standard price. It could vary from Rs 1 to Rs 100.

Q: What I have studied in CAG report which came over coal block allocation scam, it was perhaps more than marketed what Coal India was incurring for producing 1 tonne of coal that was around $550 that was more than the market rate…?

A: You will have to give a more specific question, please give us reference to your question what you are referring to and direct it to the Coal Ministry, they will give you a proper answer. Because what you are saying, there was nothing like that in the CAG report, but if you give us a specific part what you are referring to we will be able to happily respond to that.

Q: The cost of mining has decreased or still it is more than market rate?

A: I don’t know what you are referring to, there is no market rate. It depends mine to mine, as anybody who deals with coal will know. There cannot be a standard rate for mining.

Q: Sir, one of the purpose of privatizing coal block was …?

A: Please come with a detailed question with proper understanding, we will be able to respond.

Q: Is there no any specific figure on that?

A: There cannot be. It depends on each mine. As I said, it could be a factor of one, it could be a factor of a hundred. It depends. It can be underground, over ground. It can be on the surface, it can be 20 feet below the surface, land could be expensive, land could be cheap, there could be forests, there may not be forests, stripping rate may be different, the quality of coal may be different. So, you can’t have a one-size-fits-all formula.

 

A: I think I should be able to meet that demand. It should not be a problem. Now that the EC problem has got resolved, earlier we were a little concerned after the Supreme Court judgment. We were not getting EC approvals for many of our mines to expand capacity, plus I have allotted nearly 10 mines, 11 mines to the coal companies, which will now start working to try and open them up, so that not next year, but the year after that they can start getting operationalized. He is also going to operationalize these two mines in the next 18 months.

Q: Sir, you are considering further disinvestment in NLC?

A: Whenever it happens or it comes on the table, you will certainly come to know.

Q: Any percentage sir?

A: I am saying whenever it comes, right now there is not such proposal before us.

There is no such proposal on the table.

उत्तर: नहीं नहीं, वह घाटमपुर में श्रीप्रकाश जायसवाल जी ने लगवाया नहीं, लोगों को भ्रमित किया, आप ज़रा ग़लतफहमी को पहले ठीक कर लीजिये अनुज जी| उन्होंने एक पत्थर वहां पर ज़रूर रखा और उनके बड़े-बड़े नेता आये थे, वह खुद गए, अखिलेश यादव गए| न ज़मीन थी हाथ में, न पीआईबी अप्रूवल था, न ईसी अप्रूवल था, कुछ नहीं था, सिर्फ चुनाव आ रहा था एक जल्दबाज़ी में पत्थर रख दिया| हम जब काम करते हैं तो सब अप्रूवल के बाद उसके काम को शुरुआत करने के लिए मैं गया था और हमने शुरुआत उसके बाद तुरंत कर दिया, ज़मीन लेने के बाद पीआईबी अप्रूवल के साथ और जैसा इन्होंने बताया सात दिन में आर्डर प्लेस किया|

Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

 

 

Youth-stressed focus of this government to expand the infrastructure across different sectors, be it the road sector, railway sector, power, ports, shipping, the oil and gas sector; various different sectors of the economy which prepare India for the long run, and you will see that we have been expanding investments in different sectors at a very-very rapid pace to give you a sense of the kind of thrust that is being given.

In the railways alone, the capital expenditure during the period 2009 to 2014 at an average was about Rs 50,000 crore per year. In the current budget, we have planned a capex of 1.5 lakh crore rupees – 3 times the average of last 5 years before that, before we came in. And if you take the average expenditure that would have been done by this government in the five years, it would be probably over a lakh of crores per year.

In fact, on a lighter note, I am given to understand if you total the entire capex made in the railways, post independence, up to 2014, what we will be spending in five years of the Modi government would be very close to that number. Of course, one has to factor in the inflation and the cost of the investment pricing having changed, but that itself reflects the kind of focus that has been given to investments in infrastructure.

Safety being of paramount importance, next year we plan to invest about 73,000 crore alone on safety issues – 73,000 crores! But what I would like to talk to you about to take the dialogue, into another orbit if I may, is about the thinking of this government, how this government thinks, what is the logic behind any decision that we take and how there is a holistic plan, which covers different aspects when we are taking a policy decision.

I can pick up many of the decisions that we have taken, maybe, let me talk about signalling. It’s a decision we took very recently, but in one decision I hope to be able to show you how this government’s logical approach to a problem is taken forward in the best interest of this country, in the best interest of the people of India.

We are all aware that there are serious problems about safety, particularly, with accidents, head-on collisions. We are all aware about trains literally coming head-on with each other, and very often coming so close to each other that it could have caused very serious accidents. We are all well aware about the fact that we still have a nearly 100-year old signalling system, you know, red, amber, green, so motor pilots, the drivers of trains, are still dependent on finding the next signal seeing what he is allowed to do, whether he is allowed to pass, he has to stop, he has to slow down, and then take a call on his journey.

And because of that the headway between two trains continues to be almost 15-20 minutes, and in a nation where there is increasing demand for more trains, passenger traffic is growing rapidly, there is need to expand freight traffic, both for earning as well as to move large amounts of coal, large amounts of goods across the country, particularly, long distance.

In this situation, to have a 100-year old signalling system nearly, we may have in patches put in more modern systems, but across the railways we have a 100-year old system. In this situation, the choice before us was to continue with the existing system largely and identify gaps or bottlenecks, or smaller sections where we can introduce modern technology and then gradually over a period of time, maybe 20 years, maybe 30 years, introduce better signalling across the country. That is how typically the railways has planned its projects so far.

I am sure all of you are aware that any new project that railways has taken up from its budgeted cost at the time of approval to its finally implemented cost, the cost of completion, I doubt whether we would have more than 10-15% projects which have been within budget. Most projects would have had huge time over-run and even greater cost over-run. So, this signalling would probably happen over 20-30 years, and as against an estimated investment of $12 billion, say 75,000 crores, which I am given to understand it will cost if we implement it now, my own sense is the nation would land up spending Rs 2 or 3 lakh crore to modernise the signalling system in the country, in the carry-on business or business as usual scenario.

Also, the impact should have on increasing the line capacity, because once you have a modern system you can actually reduce the headway from 15-20 minutes to maybe 5 minutes, maybe 6 minutes, maybe 4 minutes. You would also be providing hugely for safety in the system, passengers will be far more secure. You will be adding to punctuality, because in the fog, imagine drivers literally crawling in the fog, waiting to see when the next signal comes and gives them a direction whether they are allowed to pass or no, and which is why you see punctuality going for a toss, particularly during fog days. We may have all suffered train journeys with long delays, particularly, in foggy weather.

And, typically, by the time we would have come to a stage of implementing this project across the country, technology would have moved on, and we would still be relegated to using some old, outdated technology. That would be typically how a project would be set up. And, of course, you talk to anybody in the department, they start by saying ‘but where are the funds, we don’t have money’. So, you go to the railways and give any idea, good, bad, ugly, you go and demand anything of the railways, or for that matter, the mindset of government in the past – we don’t have funds. Best way to say we can’t do anything – ‘we don’t have funds.’

What Prime Minister Modi did was to change the mindset from shortage of funds to availability of adequate funds for every good idea. So, when I proposed to him that in Bengaluru, I want to set up a suburban railway network, and most of us would have gone to Bengaluru some time or the other. It’s a disaster, traffic is a nightmare. It will take you 2 hours to go from one place to the other anywhere in Bengaluru.

My first visit after Railway Minister on 18^th September, Anant Kumarji, honourable Minister of Petrochemicals, Chemicals, Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, talked to me that since 1996 I have been fighting with the railways to create a suburban network in Bengaluru. 18^th September was the day I visited when he talked to me about it. 18^th October – in 30 days flat – we had a plan before me how this can be implemented. 30 days!

When your mindset changes, when you drive your department to work differently, to work at speed, this is what the same department, which would otherwise take two years, to prepare a DPR can give you a first-cut project cost and a first-cut idea of what can be done in 30 days, culminating in a budget announcement on 1^st February, committing to build up a entirely new suburban network, largely elevated. Again, if we had done it typical fashion, it would have meant hundreds of acres of land to be procured in Bangalore. Can any of you imagine trying to procure land in Bangalore at the kind of cost that property is in Bangalore?

So, I said minimize the cost of land procurement, elevate the railway line wherever we don’t have existing land with the railways. So, we have been able to create a design for the suburban railway where out of 160 kilometres, 68 kilometres will be elevated. Now, it’s of course, much more costly, but far cheaper than the cost of land that I would require and certainly far faster, speedier than trying to acquire land in Bangalore. It will be near impossible.

So, we finally created the network design where we will only require 15 acres – 15 acres in the whole of Bengaluru to create this 160 kilometre network, leveraging wherever we have land, elevating wherever we don’t have land. 15 acres are those small patches just to balance out and have a straight line, linear line. We will need a few acres; there is a Binny Mill land which is closed for many-many years that the state government is to commit to give it to the railways for our yard. And we will need to create a yard outside Bangalore for maintenance. That would not be that great a difficulty getting that land. And I have provided 1200 crores for this land acquisition.

But if I had to create a normal routine project in Bengaluru, I would need 10-12-15,000 crores only for land acquisition. Here in 17,000 crores, we will set up a whole system which I am given to understand will serve anywhere between 25 to 30 lakh commuters in Bengaluru and de-clog and un-bottleneck the traffic system.

Mumbai, of course, was carrying one-third of the total passenger traffic in India, and for 70 years since independence, nobody has ever cared to look at Mumbai. For the first time, we have Prime Minister Modi who understands that one doesn’t have to look at the revenue alone; one has to look at passenger convenience. So we decided we will invest 50,000 crores in Mumbai and really upgrade that system to make it world-class. We can have air-conditioned local trains. We can have doors which are closed, so people don’t fall off the train. I am given to understand over 3000 people die in Mumbai alone for no fault of anybody, because the trains are overcrowded. And I have travelled in those trains for years and years, both as a student and in my early years of business. Every day I used to commute both on western railway, central railway, more often than not, hanging on the edge of the coach, because we would normally allow the older, elder people to go on, and मज़ा भी आता था थोड़ा लटकने का.

So, the thinking is to think holistically and find permanent solutions to a problem, not temporary. So, coming back to signalling, what we decided and I promise you, if you talk to any railway official, they will confirm to you. And of course, I hope I am trustworthy enough that I don’t need validation, but 30 seconds it took us, 30 seconds, to decide the Indian railways, and the people of India deserve to have the world’s most modern signalling system in India – not to be implemented over 20-30 years, but to be implemented over the next 6 years – prioritizing, of course, those lines which have heavy traffic. So, we have about 12,000 kilometres where more than half the freight traffic and about two-third the passenger traffic is active or uses the railway tracks. That will, of course, be our first priority.

But, we will give a contract for the entire Indian railways, so that we can get economies of scale. Most of you are aware of my programme earlier as a Power Minister on the LED front, where we were able to bring down cost by 87%, thanks to economies of scale and thanks to honesty and integrity in procurement of the product.

The same way, what did we do about signalling? There are 6 suppliers of this ETCS technology which we are planning to implement. ETCS is the most modern technology that I could locate anywhere in the world. In the whole wide world today, only 20,000 kilometres have been converted to ETCS, only 20,000 kilometres, in the whole world. China took 10 years to do 10,000 kilometres. But should that be a restraint for India, or can we take leadership position? That’s the question before this nation today.

And we decided to bite the bullet. We decided that no, we can do 60,000 kilometres in 6 years. Let’s go for it. And the moment we started talking to the signalling guys, of course, one of them out of 6 started arguing with me in the meeting that this is near impossible. It’s never been done, it can’t be done. I said, gentleman you are free to leave the room. I will talk to the other five. You need not quote; I am not forcing you to quote in my contract. He says, no, no, we will certainly quote. We can do it in 6 years.

And all 6 suppliers have confirmed we can do it in 6 years. All 6 are very excited, because that specs were not drawn in my cabin or in the cabin of my railway board or officials, they were drawn in consultation with all 6, so that we have agnostic specs. Nobody can say that, you know, these specs will help Meenakshi ji or it will help Shehzad, or it will help Jagdambika Palji or it will help Mahesh Giri, उदित राज की भी चिंता नहीं की है. हमने कहा सबके हिसाब से specs बने.

All 6 should be able to bid. And we are not going to do what was traditionally done in the railways, because then you would be told, you know, 60,000 is too much. Let’s do bidding, whoever wins the bid will get 30% of the order, second lowest will get 22%, third will get 20%. So, effectively, you have told all the bidders that you are all going to get a piece of the cake, you need not bid very aggressively. Howsoever aggressive you are, you will get only maximum 30%, and if you are not aggressive you will still get 20%. So why bid aggressively? You can have a cosy comfortable relation where everybody makes money.

I said, no, I am going to give 60,000 kilometres maybe to one party, at best two, to create more competition. So, you fight for pricing. Even if you have to give it at a loss, win the order. Because, later on, having supplied 65,000 route kilometres, which effectively is 1,18,000 line kilometres of signalling system, whoever supplies that will be a world leader. His competitiveness nobody can ever beat, because having done so much and to such scale, his pricing is bound to be better, his technology cost would have all been absorbed. He would be the most competitive and every future order in the world he is bound to get.

And, obviously, when he has to do such orders, he will make in India. It will provide jobs. It will provide a whole ecosystem. I have just written to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to set up a facility in Uttar Pradesh where we even not only we create coaches; we have a factory in Rae Bareli. It’s planned that it can make 1000 coaches, I am tripling that, within a year of commissioning, we are tripling that to 2600 or 3000 coaches.

And I have asked the honourable Chief Minister give me some land, we will create a whole ancillary network around it. So, more and more ancillarisation takes place in Uttar Pradesh, creates jobs for the people of Uttar Pradesh. Just like the auto hubs in Detroit or in Sanand, or right in our neighbourhood at Gurugram.

The whole thinking is changing. And with this signalling system coming in to this scale, made in India, India will then start exporting to the whole world, the same signalling system with this modern technology. And to my mind, that $12 billion that they have told me is going to be the cost, I am very confident we will bring it down by 25%, at the minimum, by doing an honest transparent bidding at large scale. Maybe first few months, first year, year and a half they can even import, but with a commitment that they will make in India in the long run.

And by the time six years are over and we have converted all this to the ETCS electronic signalling system, we would have by then expanded the railway network by another 50%. So, that will open up further opportunities for business in India. So, I am confident that all six of them are going to do this project at a loss, but happily at a loss. Because it will open up the whole wide world for them to then become the pioneer and leader to supply.

It’s the thinking of the government. I have said money will be no problem, I will give you a letter of credit, railways will give a letter of credit. So, you don’t have to come to me for payment, don’t worry about any hassles in payment, you will get a letter of credit for six year supplies. And, by the way, we are going to give letter of credit for all our supplies in railways, to domestic supplies also.

I was very shocked when I heard if you import a product you give an LC, but if you are a domestic supplier to धक्के खाओ payment के लिए. The first step I have already put in transparently on the website, so if anybody’s payment is getting inordinately delayed, the whole world can see it. And, secondly, we are now planning to give a LC, because the cost of that LC is so miniscule, being a sovereign, railways is the sovereign, the cost is so miniscule, but the advantage is all my suppliers can then discount that LC at maybe 8-9%, 10% and enjoy low-cost working capital and supply more competitively priced goods to the railways.

And look at the advantages, I will add capacity in my rail system because of this new signalling, I will make it much safer, chances of collusion will significantly reduce. I will make sure that in the fog also trains run punctually, because then you can actually have a driver-less train, not that I propose to do it. But you can actually have a driver-less train, because computers will talk to each other, and if a train is coming too close to another train there will be an automatic breaking system, even if somebody has fallen off to sleep or somebody is not really, though by and large, our train pilots and train motormen are really very-very conscientious.

But then we take the holistic thinking to the next level. I will need Wi-Fi across the railway line for this. So, what will I do? I will provide Wi-Fi on 8000 stations across the country along with this. And when 8000 stations have Wi-Fi, and some of you may have enjoyed Wi-Fi in some of the stations where it has already come up, some 250-300 stations already have Wi-Fi. I hope you have seen it. It has the finest speeds. You won’t get that speed in Starbucks in New York also.

But then somebody can ask me, in Jhumri Telaiya so far away, or Ramnagar in UP, there is hardly anybody on the station, why are you providing Wi-Fi over there? I will provide Wi-Fi over there for all the poor people, all the villagers in the vicinity of that railway station. I will invite all the children who missed out, who have not been able to board the train of progress as all of us in this room have. I will allow those children; I will allow women to come and use Wi-Fi and explore the world at the railway station. I will make it free of charge.

I will allow the farmer to come and see what best way he can get a better price for his produce. He can just hop across to the… and railway station is something 1.2 billion people in India know which is the nearest railway station to them. By and large, somebody somewhere has always travelled, 8 billion nearly, 8.5 billion passengers every year, not unique, of course, repeat travellers included. But in this room, I suspect there may not be a single person who has not taken a train journey any time. Would there be anybody in this room who has not ever done a train journey? I suspect it will be impossible to find that anywhere in the country, in any audience, anywhere. That much the railways impacts India, and the people of India.

And then once I have Wi-Fi across the network, then logically, and since the trains are going to be talking to each other through computers, I can have CCTV cameras in every coach of Indian railway, on every station in Indian railway, in every colony and including all offices, so that my people know that they are being watched when they are working also. अब इसको ज्यादा publicize मत करना.

But certainly, if there are CCTV cameras in every coach, and which you must publicize, every lady would feel more comfortable and secure. Every child who may have run away from home can be detected through data analytics from the computer, which will analyze the feed of the CCTV camera and will figure out that this child looks to be lost, he’s not comfortable. You now, you can easily make out through data analytics, and with modern technology, artificial intelligence becoming centre stage, it’s not very difficult to figure out something is fishy here. Either a young child is being, human trafficking is going on or a young girl is being misled.

So, you see the holistic thinking, signalling; its impact on safety, its impact on capacity, its impact on punctuality, modern technology, Make in India, provide jobs, serve the world from India at competitive prices, get Wi-Fi onto stations, get everybody connected to the technological advancements of the world, let every citizen of India explore the world, bring safety into coaches, bring safety on the railway station.

And, frankly, I can go on and on, but that’s the new mindset of Indian railways. I invite all of you to be a part of that journey.

Thank you.

 

Question and Answer

Q: Hello, thank you very much sir, my name is Nitin. First and foremost your opening statement about Bangalore (inaudible), I can actually vouch for this that there is a big-big traffic issue. And if the suburban railways come over, I think I will be one of the most peaceful person.

A: No, I take strong objection. Where is the ‘if’? Where is the ‘if’ coming from?

Q: You know, when you spoke about Bangalore and you said, you became Minister in September, and by October you had the funds?

A: Well, I had the first cut.

Q: First cut, okay! You are not the first Minister Sir of this government and this government has been there for three years, why did it take for you to become Mantri to get this? And one more question, still staying on safety and on connectivity, when we talk about Mumbai. And you said, you travelled in Suburban Railway, the most awful thing when we saw the Elphinstone and you needed Bombay Sappers to do, you know, get that bridge in order, why? Why can’t the railways do it themselves?

A: Thank you, both are very good questions. First of all, this process of setting up a suburban railway in Bangalore was started by Sadanand Gowdaji. Obviously, in 30 days one can’t prepare the whole costing and the detailing of the suburban railway. Because the work had started in Mr Gowda’s time and a lot of the background work was done, I was able to expedite it and add the elevated corridor dimensions.

Q: Elections had nothing to do with that? The coming Karnataka elections?

A: No, there is no election in Mumbai. There is no election in Delhi where I have met with all the honourable members and we have already discussed what we can do with the ring railway to provide a suburban service interchanging with metros in Delhi, there is no election happening here. And, for that matter, I can list out 500 things. Signalling is not an election issue, is not going to get me a single vote, so I can put that $12 billion to try and make everybody happy.

So, I think one thing I can assure you Smitaji, Prime Minister Modi has not taken a single decision considering कि election होने वाला है तो यह करो या election नहीं होने वाला है तो यह छोड़ दो| I know on so many occasions, we have argued कि sir let’s postpone this decision a little bit, there is a potential election, people may not take it nicely. He has always had only one question, if this in public interest, is this in national interest? If it is in public, and obviously, what is in public interest is in national interest and vice versa.

If it is in public and national interest, it will be done today. And he said, all of us, Meenakshiji, Maheshji, Jagdambikaji, all of us, Amanji, we are all responsible for taking that message to the people of India who trust Prime Minister Modi, who trust that when this government is taking a decision, often a bitter pill, but we are taking it with the best interests of the country in mind, irrespective of the timing.

Now, regarding the Elphinstone Road, very-very good question, because I am the person who took that call, and I took that decision again with a holistic view point. A very sad tragedy had happened; it was very painful, very early on in my tenure. I spent the day of the tragedy and the next day which happened to be Dussehra, understanding what could have been done that such issues don’t recur. I found that the budget approval for that 12 metre wide and larger foot-over bridge was made in the budget presented on February 1^st, 2016.

But the processes by which railways, and that is the change in mindset I just spoke about, were such that for the last 18 months after that the whole thing was being processed, processed, processed, design, remodelling yard, tender specs, etc, etc. 22^nd September, the final design was frozen and tender specs were made and given for uploading on the website.

And, ironically, and very-very sadly, on 29^th September, the day the accident happened in the morning; around that same time those specs were uploaded on the railway website. Obviously, it couldn’t have been done after the accident, because in railways जहाँ 18 महीने लगते हैं वहां एक घंटे में तो कोई कुछ कर नहीं सकता| But it was 22^nd, I saw all the files, details, 22^nd it was all approved for uploading on the website.

But look at the irony, in 18 months a bridge should have been made, right? But, over the years, and maybe over 160 years of bureaucracy, the whole thing has almost become like a … there’s no choice we have to do it.

Now, obviously, I needed to jolt the system. I needed to give the system a new thinking. It was my Bombay BJP President, Mr Ashish Shelar, who first came up with this idea. I acknowledge it was not my original idea. When Ashish Shelar talked to me, it just stuck me as a fantastic idea to get the army to come and build Elphinstone Road or if there is any other bridge, because I had ordered an audit of all the 125 suburban stations, where else there is a potential lurking in the dark. So, it just clicked to me, I talked to Nirmalaji, she said the army is absolutely happy to serve the people of India. And this is really a serious issue which you need to address quickly, I am happy to go along with it.

And, why the army? Railways doesn’t have workers of its own or the equipment which it makes on its own. We have to go through tendering process, procure the goods, get a contractor, contractor works at his own speed. Mind you, in Mumbai, you only get 2 hours every night to work, because the trains run 22 hours, so traffic block is 2 hours in the night to work. Army knows how to work in these very trying circumstances. In Siachen, they make bridges with 2-3-4 hours of work in a day. Army has their own equipment.

Q: सर वह तो calamity के लिए हैना सर?

A: नहीं, नहीं, मैं बताता हूँ, देश में भी कुछ internal होता है तो calamity मानी जाती है| आपको calamity नहीं लगती होगी जो 23 परिवारों ने अपने दिल के टुकड़े को lose किया उसके लिए calamity थी और मेरे लिए calamity थी, अगर आपमें से किसी को calamity नहीं लगती है तो मुझे ताज्जुब होता है|

Then I would have to had to tender the whole thing, tendering has its own time consuming thing. The contractor will mobilize work two hours a day. He will have to procure equipment. I applied my mind who else could do it, nobody in the government sector could have done it. They have their own equipment, they have ready bridges designed by their engineers and kept for emergencies such as this.

And it’s not the first time, other bridges have fallen. They have made a bridge in 48 hours to serve the people of India. So, it’s not as if कि पहली बार हो रहा है| This has been happening for 70 years since independence. Whenever there is internal calamity also, army comes to the rescue.

Similarly, they don’t have to do any contracting, they have their own workmen. So, workmen, equipment and the material to make the bridge is available, so they could do it in 3 months. And, what did I do? I sent officers from 17 zones to come and see how they do it. So, it was like a skill development, a training of my engineers and officers how things can be done faster.

And I am delighted to share with you, the challenge that the railways took up was so exciting that 26^th January, they made ready 3 foot-over bridges, 5 days before the army foot-over bridge got ready. Because वह दिल को जो चोट पहुंची उसमें पूरा रेलवे सिस्टम galvanize हो गया to do better work, my job is done. Army in 3 bridges has made my whole railway think differently and they forced me to have an inauguration of those three foot-over bridges, because they wanted to prove a point कि we can do it also. And the Chief Minister inaugurated them on 26^th January, even before the army could finish theirs.

Now, this is, of course, because those bridges were tendered out earlier, otherwise, it couldn’t have been done. But they worked day and night to do it, and that’s that competitive spirit that is helping me to bring the railways to think in a new style of working.

So, I think it was one of the wisest decisions. And to share with you, at the Foreign Secretary’s dinner, I met the Chief of Army Staff who came up to me before I gave this order. He said, “Sir, we are grateful.” These are his words. “We are grateful to the Indian railways for allowing my officers to serve the people of India.” That’s the Indian army for us.

Q: But that actually leads to one more thing, your choice of using the army was an intelligent one to actually get things done immediately, but is there an interdepartmental rivalry in railways because of which the policies and plans are being delayed or not implemented?

A: Well, frankly, I don’t think there is any rivalry as such, but certainly, the bureaucracy created over many-many years automatically creates certain silos in working. We are now working overtime to try and break those silos, bring in more synergy. So, you will be happy to know, for example, the railway board now meets every week, once every week. कहाँ महीनों-महीनों तक, जगदंबिका जी या कोई सीनियर लोग यहाँ पर हैं बता सकेंगे कि महीनों तक मीटिंग ही नहीं होती थी| मैं जिधर जिस ज़ोन के रिव्यू के लिए जाता था, यह क्या हो रहा है? बोर्ड के पास पेंडिंग है! यह क्या हो रहा है? बोर्ड के पास पेंडिंग है!

In one meeting alone, and now we are in the mood of delegating everything. One meeting alone, 21 pages of authorities were delegated down the line. I mean I was hospitalized recently in Mumbai, so the local chief of the Bombay Central Hospital of Railways came and was sitting with me. He said, sir thanks to that delegation, two lives have been saved – a fellow who needed a bone marrow transplant, and somebody who needed a, I think a liver transplant. In the normal course, it would have gone from him to the division, to the zone, some queries would have come back, then gone back up to cycle to railway board, some queries would have come back, the guy would have been dead and long gone.

Now with delegated powers, he was able to send him to the best hospital and at least two of my railway employees’ lives have been saved. I am delighted about that.

Q: That’s great news. We are going to throw it across to the audience. Two questions, I am afraid, because we will run out of time. So, yes the first questions, could the mike be given there please?

Q: Sir, my name is Aakash Jindal. I am an economist. Now, I have very high respect for Mr Modi and you, in fact, I seriously believe Mr Modi is the best Prime Minister till now. But when I talk about the bullet train, my economics really confuses me and fails me, Sir 17 billion USD, 50 years loan from Japan, that’s what the websites tell me. So, 50 years loan from Japan with interest. I plan to live for another 30-40 years, for 30-40 years I will be paying, then my kids would be paying that loan. Now, what do I get in terms of that much loan burden, I mean I have to pay interest, though it’s .1%. My metro fare Rohini to Connaught Place Rs 19 to Rs 40 in last 6 months.

A: I understand your point. Just for your knowledge, of course, since you raised the metro issue. Metro fares in India are highly subsidized, and none of the metros in the entire country is making money. They are all a public service, a public utility, even after the increase, it’s a very-very nominal price that is charged on the metro. But coming to the bullet train, because metro doesn’t report to me, but I genuinely believe it’s a great service. I use it every day, not every day, every time I have to travel from airport to here or go any far off place.

But coming to the bullet train, again exactly, what I reflected on the signaling system, the changed thinking of the government of India under Mr Modi. The last time India saw a fast train or any modicum also of modernisation in the trains was the Rajdhani in 1969. For all of you in this room, for the last 50 years, India has seen no modernisation in the train system in the country. And I am sure, all of you will agree that we can’t afford to be hoping to become a superpower but live in technologies which are 50 years old.

After Rajdhani, railways just stopped modernizing. Do the people of India deserve better, or do the people of India deserve to remain consigned to inefficiency and outdated, out-modeled ways of transport all our lives? Now the bullet train project, the loan would be about $13 billion, about $4 billion we would be putting in – $3 or $4 billion, exact figure I don’t know, when we convert it but it’s about a lakh and 10,000 crores. My own hope is I will be able to save 10,000-15,000 crore in that also by efficiently implementing it and faster implementation and more competitive bidding.

But be that as it may, what are we getting along with that? We are getting the entire technology of Shinkansen technology to make in India. Now, 500 kilometers is only the first project my friend, my own sense is India needs 8-10,000 kilometers of high speed train network. Why should the people of India be consigned to live in medieval times and not have modern good systems by which we can go from one place to another faster, more efficiently, more safely.

Now the bullet train is entirely an elevated track. It will be exclusively for passengers. And the calculations that you are doing, you are forgetting that that .1% also has a 15% moratorium and fixed interest rate for 50 years. By the time the train comes up, and by the time repayment starts after 15 years, can you imagine that what we will be paying will be so miniscule compared to what calculations you are doing today, even if we factor in the rupee depreciation, if at all it happens. Right now the rupee is getting strong, most people are complaining that मोदी जी ने रुपया बड़ा strong कर दिया| Though I personally feel that’s a sign of India’s growing relevance and our strength as a fundamentally strong economy. But at .1%, assuming rupee doesn’t depreciate, you are looking at interest cost of what 800 crore rupees, 800 or 850 crore rupees in a year? It’s miniscule! Even if the rupee depreciates, what we will be looking as interest cost would go up slightly.

But, the big picture is that we will have technology. We will Make in India. We will rapidly expand, now at lower costs, on the back of Make in India. We will provide jobs to millions of people in the country in the whole ecosystem around Shinkansen or other high-speed trains. And the biggest thing is, I don’t know if you are aware, today a lot of our perishable goods are totally destroyed, because we don’t have adequate and timely delivery or transport from one point to the other. As these high-speed trains become a reality and become a routine across the country, we will be able to actually encourage farmers to transport perishable goods long distances, so that no rich person will ever have to import flowers from Singapore for a marriage or from Europe. And we will actually have our Indian farmers getting that high value product in India.

Q: My name is Deepak Bohra. I appreciate what you are doing regarding safety. But sir I am not travelling by the Shatabdi. It’s invariably late. Delhi to Dehradun – 1 and 1.5 hours late, Dehradun to Delhi – 1 and 1.5 hours late, and I stopped travelling. Is there something that you can do, and not talk about the bullet train sir. You have got to get the infrastructure right as of now, the present sir,  Shatabdi is there sir.

A: Okay, in your meal, when you have rice, do you say अब मुझे और कुछ नहीं चाहिए. I will just have salt and rice. I don’t want sabzi, I don’t want parotha, I don’t want daal. You don’t do that, right? One or the other is not one at the cost of the other. I am not saying that because of bullet train I don’t have money for safety. I just told the audience, I don’t know if you were there, that 73,000 crores we are going to invest only towards safety and safety related investment, in one year. That’s one and a half times what was spent by the Congress, for the entire capex of the railways in a year. One and a half times only on safety, total is three times.

Now, it’s not one or the other. Bullet train will work on its own speed and we will set it up. At the same time, we have to strengthen the entire system. But as I just explained, were you there when I said the signaling story? So, after all, fog के लिए मेरे पास कोई और device ही नहीं है. We have done a fog pass device, but it’s a rudimentary way. It’s not made any significant difference. थोड़ा better हुआ है. But once we have that signaling, so should we go in for modern technology or no that’s the question, bullet train is a part of that question, modern signaling is a part of that question.

Or we can all relegate ourselves to live as backwards, as outdated citizens, living in the past glory. We will never be able to get things better or safer. And lastly, one cause which I am happy to even share and acknowledges me for the trains getting delayed in the last four months, little inordinately, and that is also related to safety by the way. Indian railways has never been able to do the track renewal, you know, the replacement of worn out tracks, as much as was required. So, typically, railways does about 2,500 kilometres, line kilometers of track replacement every year. And because of that, there is a huge backlog building up, so we have a large backlog which the country has to make up. Otherwise, the train travel is keeping on getting unsafe.

In New Delhi, we have had so many derailments. Now, all of New Delhi stations, platform after platform I am taking up and replacing the entire track and making a apron over there by which it doesn’t suffer from the kind of problems that we have had of late in New Delhi. Similarly, across the country this whole backlog of track renewal, I have taken it upon myself that in the next two years I want to make zero the entire backlog.

So I will tell you how this government thinks and works. I have a shortage of rail, I didn’t have enough rail required for replacement. I diverted all the rail from new tracks to replacement and as against about 233 kilometers that were being replaced every month average, between April to August before I came in, you will be happy to know in December, we replaced 470-plus kilometers of rail track, in January we replaced 576 kilometers of rail track, worn out track. We are making railways that much more safer, as we replace every amount of worn out tracks. And in the next two years, I am hoping to cover all the backlog and replacing a track means a traffic block. You have to stop the trains on that route, for that period.

But that was the hobson’s choice before me. Do I focus on safety, or I do the mistake that has happened for some unfortunate reason where those workers were trying to clear the track without a traffic block and landed up having such a massive accident. I think Utkal Express या कौनसी थी वह, जहाँ पर वह लोग काम कर रहे थे वह replacement of track and the train came and… Now, to my mind, I have taken the decision in the public interest, in the interest of safe travel for all of you. I know that that punctuality is equally important. I am trying to get the railways to start looking at more better planning, so they do hundred things at the same time, which we have achieved in suburban Mumbai at least.

Now in suburban Mumbai, when there is that 2-hour traffic block, 100 projects are done, including removing the muck from the railway tracks. 100 projects, simultaneously, across the network! When we take a 8-hour traffic block on a Sunday, let’s say, if you have to put a girder for the foot-over bridge, we will have tonnes and tonnes of things happening across the network, all coinciding at the same time for efficient utilization of ….

But, this is a harsh reality. It’s a legacy this government in 2014. That backlog somehow some government will have to bite the bullet and make up, otherwise, Indian railways will not be able to provide safety, security into travel. And my own objective is that when we do all of these things we will be able to bring the charm back to the rail travel in India.

Thank you.

Q: Thank you Piyushji. We will wind up now. And I think I speak on behalf of everybody when we say that the first and foremost thing we want is as you said getting into a station, getting into the train, feel safe, secure. As a woman, I welcome this what you said that there would be CCTV, and you know, it’s single women travelling by train, whether suburban or whether across cities and they feel safe when they get on. And, of course, clean loos. Again, as a woman I say that this is one of the biggest things that we women face. We need clean loos, so we expect that.

A: Give me nine months, 8000 stations will have clean loos.

Q: We will have you back here sir, in nine months. And, of course, stress-free ticketing, stress-free getting out of the station, moving out, and then the last mile connectivity. We expect all this from you, and hopefully, being an interactive kind of a government where, we have Arvind Gupta here, he will probably tell us next about how we will get to know, month by month how you are progressing in this. Thank you very much. I request Mr Prem Prakash to felicitate Mr Piyush Goyal on behalf of Asian News International.

 

Ends.

 

India’s industrial production registered robust growth for the second straight month, growing at 7.1% in December, while retail inflation slowed to 5.07% in January, signalling that the Indian economy may be stabilizing.

The pickup in factory output was driven by a 8.4% growth in the manufacturing sector. Electricity and mining, the two other categories, expanded 4.4% and 1.2%, respectively, data released by the Central Statistics Office on Monday showed.

It is likely that the recovery in factory output will augur well for the fiscal third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data due to be released on 28 February.

In another signal that economic sentiment may be improving, the quarterly Business Confidence Index, released separately on Monday by the Delhi-based economic think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), registered a growth of 9.1% in January, after declining for two consecutive quarters.

In November, the index of industrial production (IIP) grew 8.8% and consumer price index-based (CPI-based) retail inflation quickened by 5.21% in December.

Though a low base last year is partially responsible for the pickup, higher growth in production of cement, diesel and two-wheelers signal a revival in economic demand.

Gross value-added growth is likely to improve to around 6.8% in the third quarter from 6.1% in the preceding September quarter, led by manufacturing, construction and services, Aditi Nayar, principal economist at Icra Ltd, said in a statement.

Anis Chakravarty, partner and lead economist at Deloitte India, said while IIP growth was expected to be around the high-single-digit range, the breakup shows that overall growth in the Indian economy has bottomed out and is now slowly improving.

“The trend suggests that the impact of GST (goods and services tax) has most likely waned,” Chakravarty said in a statement.

While output of consumer non-durables grew at a robust 16.5% in December, production of consumer durables continued to remain sluggish, growing at 0.9%.

However, economists warned against reading too much into expansion in the volatile capital goods segment (16.4%), which has been registering positive growth for the past five months.

“It remains somewhat premature to attribute the recent double-digit growth in capital goods to a pickup in investment activity, as it benefits from the rebuilding of inventories for sub-sectors such as commercial vehicles as well as a favourable base effect related to the 6.2% contraction in December 2016,” Nayar said.

While food inflation softened in January, higher oil (7.7%) and rent allowance (8.3%) limited a larger correction in price pressures.

Radhika Rao, India economist at DBS Bank, said the inflation data is along the lines of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) revised projections, with CPI expected to remain elevated for the next six months due to base effects. “The central bank has already indicated that it will look through near-term prints and today’s numbers don’t warrant any change in their neutral policy stance,” she added.

RBI last week kept interest rates unchanged and warned that inflation risks were skewing upwards. It raised its March quarter CPI inflation forecast to 5.1% and projected an inflation range of 5.1%-5.6% in the first half of the next fiscal year.

However, RBI posits a revival in growth, projecting an acceleration in economic growth to 7.2% in 2018-19 from a level of 6.6% in the current fiscal year. It premises this on a host of factors including revival in investment demand and strengthening exports.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/AwPFFExedtdBFYKxle2H9M/Indias-inflation-in-January-at-507-IIP-for-December-at-7.html