The railways plan outlay for 2005-06 has been kept at Rs 11,827 crore. Taking into account the outlay of Rs 3,522 crore on safety-related works through the Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF), the total outlay comes to Rs 15,349 crore. This is Rs 851 crore more than the outlay last year.Presenting the Railway Budget 2005-06, railway minister Lalu Prasad said to improve productivity and efficiency of the railways, Prime Minister has directed the Planning Commission to allow his ministry to access extra budgetary resources to the extent of Rs 3,000 crore by identifying and posing financially viable throughput enhancement schemes on a projectised basis.For 2005-06, the total funds received from the general exchequer are Rs 7,230.81 crore, which includes Rs 2,699 crore for SRSF and Rs 710.81 crore from the central road fund - leaving a net budgetary support of Rs 3,821 crore for distribution to different plan heads.The corresponding figure of last year's budget estimates was Rs 7,020 crore including Rs 2,075 crore for SRSF and Rs 401 crore from the central road fund, he said.Prasad said besides budgetary support, he proposed to provide Rs 4,718 crore for plan expenditure through internal resources generation, which is higher than what was budgeted for the previous year by Rs 990 crore.As in previous years, extra-budgetary resources through market borrowing from Indian Railways Finance Corporation will provide the balance requirement of the plan.The market borrowing targeted for 2005-06 is Rs 3,400 crore. For the Special Railway Safety Fund (SRSF), the contribution of the central government would be supplemented by railways' own contribution, which is expected to be Rs 823 crore, taking the total outlay under SRSF to Rs 3,522 crore, he said.The minister said the thrust of the annual plan is towards works for enhancement of throughput, safety and development. The total outlay for the five major plan project heads this year has been kept at Rs 2,185 crore with Rs 658 crore for new lines, Rs 645 crore for gauge conversion, Rs 505 crore for doubling and Rs 102 crore for electrification.The outlay on metropolitan transport projects has been kept at Rs 275 crore.
