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Populism seen influencing railway budget

BUDGET 2001

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee needs to raise passenger fares and freight rates to keep the mammoth network chugging, but she may dump economics for populist measures to fight communist rivals in West Bengal.

Banerjee's railway budget, to be presented on Monday, is expected to contain a series of measures to please voters in West Bengal where a 24-year-old communist government faces its toughest challenge in assembly elections due in April.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said earlier this month a hike in passenger rail fares was likely because of pressure on government finances after last month's devastating earthquake.

However, Banerjee, who heads the Trinamool Congress, a part of the federal coalition, would block or minimise a hike and push through proposals to benefit her voters, analysts said.

"I expect her to press for concessions for West Bengal. In terms of her image for the elections, that is very important," said Mahesh Rangarajan, a political analyst.

Banerjee has steadfastly nurtured an image of a crusader fighting for the poor in the Marxist-ruled state.

Last year, she threatened to walk out of the coalition after prices of petroleum products were increased, and relented only after kerosene and cooking gas prices were partly rolled back.

In her budget last year, she announced a series of new trains for her state, promised to build new railway lines in remote parts of the region and kept passenger fares unchanged despite mounting fiscal pressures.

The Indian Railways has resorted to taking heavy loans that have heaped a repayment liability equal to the annual borrowings, she said in her budget speech last year.

Communist rulers said they would not be surprised if she again did not increase fares and promised more trains for the state, but added that this would not impress voters.

"If she is under the impression that people would be gullible enough to vote for her, she is sadly mistaken," Sailen Dasgupta, chairman of the ruling coalition, the Left Front, said.

But her party spokesman, Pankaj Banerjee, said the Indian Railways was working better since she took over.

"If someone wants to be blind to her achievements, what can we say? But come election-time, we have no doubt that people will vote for her for all that she has done for them," he said.

Some leftist leaders said financial pressures would force her to hike fares after the elections.

"The indications are already there that fares will be raised once the elections are over," said Nirupam Sen, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

An official panel recently advised Vajpayee to raise railway fares, prompting Banerjee to call a meeting of all political parties in New Delhi to discuss the issue.

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