The minister for railways, Nitish Kumar, today presented supplementary demand for grants for 2001-02 for a whopping Rs 3,298 crore involving a cash outgo of Rs 2,298 crore.
The supplementary demand for grants has been largely beefed up because of the allocations of Rs 1,400 crore made for the Railway Safety Fund and another of Rs 1,898.30 crore for capital expenditure.
Of this, the allocation for new investment projects is Rs 898 crore. On the revenue side, while Rs 400 crore will be generated by the Railways from the surcharge imposed on passenger fare this year, the demand for grants also include Rs 1,000 crore made available by the ministry of finance.
The expenses for capital projects include expenditure on new lines, gauge conversion, doubling of tracks and railway electrification projects.
A major chunk of this is meant for the proposed Koderma-Tilaiya new lines and the extension of the Patna railway station
