Parliament to witness presentation of white paper on railways

This winter session of the Parliament, the white paper on the railways is likely to be presented, bringing to the forefront its financial position and the former minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav's claim of turning around the PSU behemoth.

This winter session of the Parliament, the white paper on the railways is likely to be presented, bringing to the forefront its financial position and the former minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav's claim of turning around the PSU behemoth.

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A senior railway official said, "It (white paper) is almost ready and final touches are being given to it."
"It will have a certain basic data on railways' operational and financial condition," he said without elaborating.

Mamata Banerjee, the Railway Minister, had promised in the rail budget that she would come out with a white paper on organisational, operational and financial status of railways based on the performance over the last five years. It is also to include a rather developed Vision 2020 with a long and short term strategy and a plan of action.

Lalu Prasad on one hand had put the surplus funds with the Railways at a sum of Rs. 90,000, whereas Banerjee says that a capital sum of Rs. 8,361 crore remained. This is after the expenditure of Rs. 13,600 crore on account of Pay Commission award last year and Rs. 2,600 crore this year.

While claiming that surplus funds were not available, Banerjee had recently said,"There was no money to install anti-collission device."