Railway budget to merge with Union budget: Report

Bringing an end to more than 90-year-old practice of presenting railway budget that started in 1924, the finance ministry has agreed to the proposal to merge the railway budget with the general budget, according to a report in The Times of India.

The finance ministry has created a five-member team of officers to chalk out the modalities for the exercise, which will end the annual budget speech, the report said.

The move comes after the NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy-led panel had submitted its recommendations to the government.

In June, Debroy had said, "The railway budget is an avenue for populism with MPs demanding new trains and stops for existing ones. These decisions should be taken by railway board on a commercial basis. A lot of resources are wasted in the process of preparing it. A very complicated relationship between Finance Ministry and Railways has evolved. We should simplify it."

Speaking in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said that the Railway Budget should be merged with the General Budget for the long term interest of national transporter as well as the country's economy.