Winding up the discussion on the Railway Budget 2007-08 in the Rajya Sabha, he said that Railways would take steps to provide hygienic and safe food, palatable to the taste of regional passengers.
"We will reduce the elaborate menu and cut it down so as to make it hygienic and wholesome," he said as the House approved by a voice vote the vote on account for Railways providing for expenditure of Rs 7,579 crore (Rs 75.79 billion) for the first few months of 2007-08.
Ruling out privatisation of the core activities, Prasad announced that a White Paper would be brought out on the overall functioning of the Railways, which the UPA government has vowed to make "number one in the world".
Rejecting opposition charge that the turnaround was based on the initiatives of the previous NDA regime, the Minister said the "legacy" inherited from the previous government was still being "cleaned up" while making efforts to propel the Railways to greater heights.
Prasad said since the world, including top business schools of the US, were lauding the Railways' turnaround, he did not require "any other certificate".
The Minister said he would be visiting the Harvard Business School in April and Silicon Valley in the US to share his success story.
In his characteristic style, Prasad laced his speech with wit and humour saying that the magical performance this year would be transformed into "a bigger magic" in the next financial year when the Railways would focus more on growth.
Referring to Railways' contribution in tackling inflation, he said more steps would be taken for checking price rise through reduction of freight charges. He also offered help to the Food Corporation of India for the transport of food grains in the current procurement season by giving them a discount.
Dismissing the charge that he had "cleverly" raised the fares by hiking cancellation fees, tatkal charges and other means, the Minister said he was willing to look into specific instances where passengers felt that they were being "fleeced".
He said the tatkal quota was increased to 30 per cent since the agents were making money by block booking and peak time rates were hiked, sparing the non-peak time rates.
Prasad said while feasibility report on running the bullet trains was underway, the implementation of the Dedicated Freight Corridor would begin soon. He also announced that a train service between Kolkata and Dhaka would begin in April.
During the reply, certain remarks by the Minister sparked acrimony between the Opposition and Treasury benches leading to two adjournments.
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