Parekh wonders why Railways should run so many hospitals

Mumbai, Sep 3 (PTI) At a time when the Railways plans toinvest Rs 8.56 trillion to develop infrastructure, veteranbanker Deepak Parekh today said the government needs tocarefully evaluate its finances and focus on building onlycore assets. "The time has come for a careful evaluation of theRailways’ assets. If resources are scarce, there needs to begreater focus on creating core assets while hiving off otherassets.. Evidently, more out-of-the-box solutions are needed,"Parekh said at a gathering organised by the industry lobbyIndian Merchants Chambers here. Stating the Railway’s finances need to improve, hepointed out that the national transporter" had last year spentabout 93 paise to earn Re 1. This year, the Railways has theadded burden of seventh pay commission, estimated at Rs 28,000crore. Clearly, scarce resources have to be carefullyallocated." The Railways need to evaluate whether it should continueto have 125 hospitals, 600 polyclinics and 100 schoolsdirectly under its wing, he said. "Secondly, the Railways should monetise some of its vastland holdings. This land parcels may well be used foraffordable housing and in turn, it could bring in largeresources for the Railways," Parekh said. He emphasised that while taking up various infrastructureprojects, the government needs to ensure that Railwayscontinue to remain the cheapest mode of transportation for thecitizens. "It is equally important to reiterate that the Railwaysis the lifeline of the common man and remains the cheapestform of transportation, so commercial considerations cannotalways drive decisions. There is a need for sensitivity onthis issue," he said. The banker noted that while we have one of the cheapestpassenger fares in the world, it gets skewed by having one ofthe highest freight rates (and the share of freight has beenfalling). PTI PSK BEN KRK JMMKJRDS