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Railway Budget 2009-10 is Progressive and Forward Looking- FICCI

New Delhi, July 03, 2009

“The railway budget 2009-10 is clearly a progressive and a forward looking budget”, said Harsh Pati Singhania, President, FICCI. The Minister has mooted a number of projects that will carry railways to the next technology level.

The announcement of developing 50 world class stations, setting up multifunctional complexes at railway stations, introduction of inter city air conditioned double-decker coaches and infotainment services in long distance trains are all steps which will provide greater passenger convenience.

“FICCI is happy that this budget is very much in line with industry expectations. The initiative to develop cold storage cargo handling facilities will prevent the wastage of food and vegetables and this is an initial step towards ushering in the second green revolution in the country”, said Singhania.

“The industry is pleased that the minister has not increased freight tariff, provided there is no re-classification of the tariff structure”, he added.

The important announcements like linking industrial clusters to markets, introduction of several projects under PPP mode and setting up of land banks for commercial and industrial use of railway land would contribute to develop markets and creating demand.

FICCI also welcome the setting up of technical committee under chairmanship of Sam Pitroda for laying down optical fibre cables network along the railway tracks for commercial use.