Clearing Lalu track record

The Rail Bhawan is clear —- nothing will spoil Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s “turnaround story” on the Indian Railways. So, the Ministry came out with a part of May’s figures on freight revenue earnings first, not releasing similar figures for April. Though earnings for April witnessed an increase of 4.46 per cent, this was much less than the 9 per cent average touched last year. So, even as the Rail babus rang the alarm bell and called a panic meeting with industry players, the April figures were kept under wraps sufficiently long enough for the issue to die down.