Budget 2021: FM Sitharaman Allocates Rs 1.1 Lakh Crore to Railways

Presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, 1 February, allocated a sum of Rs 1,10,055 crore to Railways and said that the Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for India 2030.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

Presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, 1 February, allocated a sum of Rs 1,10,055 crore to Railways and said that the Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for India 2030.

Explaining the plan, Sitharaman said:

“The plan is to create a future-ready railways system by 2030 – bringing down logistic cost for industry is at the core of a strategy to enable Make in India.”

Further, Sitharaman claimed that safety-measures undertaken in the past years have borne results.

The Finance Minister also said in a bid to further strengthen those measures, “high-density network and highly utilised network routes of Railways will be provided with indigenously developed automatic train protection system that eliminates train collision due to human error.”

FM Sitharaman informed that a record sum of Rs 1,10,055 crore is being provided for the Railways, out of which Rs 1,07,100 crore is for capital expenditure only.

More From the Railway Budget

Speaking about monetisation of assets, Sitharaman said that the Indian Railways will monetise dedicated freight corridors.

“We will work towards raising the share of public transport with an outlay of Rs 18,000 crore,” she added.

Further, FM Sitharaman, according to Livemint, announced:

• Metrolite and Metroneo technologies will be brought into tier-two cities and along the periphery of tier-one cities.
• 100 percent electrification of broad gauge rail routes will take place by 2023.

Background

The Budget proposals this year are based on six pillars: health and well being; physical and financial capital and infrastructure; inclusive development for aspiration India; innovation and R&D; reinvigorating human capital; minimum government and maximum governance.

According to TOI, up till 2017, the Railway Budget was presented separately by the Railway Minister.

At the outset of her address, Sitharaman said the Budget preparation has been undertaken in “circumstances like never before".

The presentation of the Budget comes in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic and its repercussion on the economy, which is facing its worst contraction since 1952. Ahead of Monday's presentation, FM Sitharaman said that it will "be a Budget like never before".