Kochi: The Railways had prioritized 30 projects for implementation this year with cleanliness, catering, safety and security being given the thrust, Union Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said on Thursday. Earlier, he devoted nearly two hours for a station visit during which he personally inspected kitchens, toilets and train coaches before interacting with passengers.
“Overall I’m satisfied with the cleanliness of the South station which should be a role model for the rest of the stations in the country. We are observing October 2 as Swachata Abhiyan (Cleanliness Day),” he said. The minister said the focus was now on prioritizing projects rather than announcing new ones.
Five railway ministers in the last three years had announced so many projects that the railway had been left burdened with projects worth Rs 5.60 lakh crore as against its total available revenue of Rs 60,000 crore, he said. “I felt that revenue mobilization should not be limited to railways alone. We want to generate more and more funds for which private players need to come in. I want foreign funding as well since we are going ahead with projects like the bullet train,” Gowda said.
Four committees had been formed to look into the task of minimizing operational costs, ways to improve revenue mobilization, IT initiatives and reforms respectively. Each of the committees has five members with one railway official. “They would submit the report in three months following which follow-up action will be taken,” he said.
