Ilegal mining in the country has lost a lot of money for Indian Railways (IR).
The railways say they lost cargo traffic of 11 million tonnes of iron ore in the first half of the current financial year, owing to restrictions imposed by the governments of Orissa and Karnataka on the mineral’s movement. The two governments had imposed restrictions on the movement earlier this year to clamp on illegal mining in their territories.
The overall freight traffic loaded by IR in the first half of 2010-11, at 438.2 mt, was higher by at least 10 mt compared to that loaded in the same period last year.
“This loading could have been further improved but for a loss of 10.8 mt on account of less loading of iron ore,” a note prepared by IR said, attributing the loss to the restrictions imposed in Karnataka and Orissa.
The railways loaded a total of 887 mt of freight in the financial year ended March, a 6.5 per cent growth over 2008-09. This included 132 mt of iron ore. In the current financial year, the revenue-earning freight-loading target has been fixed at 944 mt.
Congratulating her ministry for the growth in traffic, both passenger and freight, railway minister Mamata Banerjee today said managing growth despite low fares was a challenge for her.
“IR has suffered in the past two-three years, but without an increase in fares. We have faced acute problems like financial slowdown, low fares and law and order problems,” Banerjee said at the Economic Editors Conference. She said her ministry had been able to save Rs 3,500 crore in the past four months, of which “Rs 1,200 crore was saved in the first quarter of this financial year alone”.
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She expressed anguish over the “loss of punctuality” due to bandhs called by workers’ organisations. “In the past two-three years, revenue of Rs 1,500 crore has been lost. Extremists are calling bandhs every alternate day,” she said.
IR’s total earnings in 2009-10 registered a growth of 9.1 per cent, at Rs 87,105 crore. Earnings had grown by 11.4 per cent, at Rs 79,837 crore, in 2008-09.