Railway Minister Nitish Kumar’s problems are not just within the Samata Party. A flash report submitted to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee last month shows that all railway projects worth over Rs 100 crore are delayed by up to 13 years resulting in a cost escalation to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore.The Railway Ministry has 87 projects exceeding the Rs 100-crore mark. According to the status report prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 50 of these 87 railway projects have not even started despite money being sanctioned.Compared to other ministries, the Railway Ministry has the maximum allocation in the ‘Rs 100-crore plus’ category of about Rs 23,870 crore. Due to the inordinate delay in implementation, this cost escalated to Rs 26,352 crore by the end of last year. The latest flash report now pegs the anticipated cost at Rs 35,577 crore.With projections of some of its works including the much-awaited Golden Quadrilateral registering delays, the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways is not far behind. However, unlike the Railways, all its projects are under implementation and the anticipated cost hike is below Rs 1,000 crore.The report presents a dismal scenario for all core infrastructure ministries. The Power Ministry was to have completed 43 projects listed in its five-year-plan by now but has finished only two. Similarly, Ministry of Oil, Petroleum, and Natural Gas had 80 scheduled for completion but could manage only 24.In February alone, 39 projects from across ministries were to have been accomplished but only four have actually seen the light of day. Overall, the Government has 366 projects in this category which have been overdue. Of this, only 34 were completed by Februaury-end.This non-performance has thrown the system of setting milestones completely out of gear with the country maintaining a dismal 9.3 per cent rate in achiveing mid-course deadlines.
