Treatment given to IR by govt of India is surprising,
(1) why it force IR to pay annual dividend on amounts allocated to it in past when other ministries are not paying any
(2) why it force IR to bear subsidy for the social causes like operating uneconomical branch lines, subsidised suburban, second class travel etc which is a duty of Central Govt and not the Rly ministry
(3)why...
more... it force its pay recommendation on IR if it does not pay the same for Rly employees
(4) why it does not bear pension of employees of IR when it bears the same for other ministries. During and before independence IR was financially strong (revenue 70% of General budget) and carried more than three fourth of national frieght and was more capable than Govt. of India to pay for the salary & pension. Where as today IR is financially weak with about one fourth of market share of national traffic, govt of India which has much more financial might should bear pension burden like other ministries.
There are even more problems with Rly ministry. There are genuine apprehensions of FM fir the Rly ministry like:
(1) why IR (RM) does not take financially correct route of governing IR & want to run IR for his/her political interests which entails a huge financial loss.
(2) Why it want to run a parallel state as well as central government and fritter away its scarce resources and by meddling into the area of other ministries like Education-(Schools, colleges), Health-(Hospitals), Urban development & State Govts (Metro train) and so on. FM will not like to help & pay for the ministry headed by a brother who tends to act as a dominating father.
(3) RMs invariably running new trains, allocating for new projects to choicest routes/ destinations often defying/ bypassing the guidelines lineated by FM directly or indirectly.
(4) FM painstakingly collects revenue from myriad of sources/agencies and why would he like to give more money to Rly Ministry if the money is not being efficiently put to effective and productive use?