Govt invites feedback from probationers on Rail Budget

In a new initiative, the Railways Ministry has started consultation with its probationers to their get feedback on the upcoming Rail Budget, scheduled to be presented in the Lok Sabha in the last week of February. 

Two top officials of the Ministry have been assigned to hold discussions with over 200 probationers of the Railways and take their views on the Rail Budget.

According to Rail Ministry official, the officials will interact with young officers in Vadodara on Friday and submit important suggestions to the Ministry which will be incorporated in the final draft of Rail Budget. 

According to officials, the Ministry has decided to take the views of its future officers in addition to the suggestions and innovative ideas sought from the public for the Rail Budget 2016-17.

The officials said the objective behind this move is to bring the ideas of youth on policy formulations to give impetus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s thoughts of including youth in the decision-making process.

The officials who been tasked to hold deliberations with probationers are Anant Swarup and Hanish Yadav, who are cited as confidantes of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. 

Swarup is Executive Director of Public Grievances, while Yadav is OSD to the Rail Minister.

Also, the Ministry is holding round-table discussions with various stakeholders to seek their views and grievances from the Railways, which would be included in the Budget draft. The stakeholders whose views are being taken include transporters of mining, cement, coal, woods, etc.

The probationers of Railways are from the nine services – Indian Railway Service of Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers, Indian Railway Stores Service, Indian Railway Traffic Service, Indian Railway Accounts Service, Indian Railway Personnel Service and Railway Protection Force.