Railways Minister Vaishnaw Directs Officials To Discard Outdated 'Colonial Mindset' To Ensure Better Performance

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has asked senior railway officials to “ruthlessly” shun colonial mindset, working styles and procedures to ensure better performance of the national transporter.

He also said the railways has to scale up the transportation of cargo to bring down the country’s dependence on imported crude for fuel and cost of logistics.

Addressing a railway ministry event, Vaishnaw said, “I will urge our senior officials that we get rid of the colonial mindsets such as our style of working and practices. Find out each of them and remove them ruthlessly.”

He said the progress made in the railway sector in the past nine-and-a-half years shows that it can achieve higher targets.

The minister said had the railways not focused on developing infrastructure and systems for the movement of more passengers and cargo, there would have been a huge burden on roads, the environment, and the public exchequer.

“An estimate prepared by our Gati Shakti directorate projects that around 3,000 million tonnes (MTs) additional cargo will be generated across the country by 2031. If 50 per cent of this is transported by the Railways, which we are well off the way to do it, India can save approximately 16,000 crore liters of diesel annually."

"If we translate this in terms of rupees, around Rs 1.28 lakh crore will be saved every year and our dependence on foreign countries for crude oil will reduce,” Vaishnaw said.