No Railway Budget now! Cabinet approves its merger with General Budget

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the merger of Railway Budget with the General Budget.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who has already given his consent on the Budget merger proposal, attended the cabinet meeting along with Chairman Railway Board AK Mital to be part of the historic decision that will end the 92-year old practice of presenting the separate Railway Budget.

A joint committee set up to finalise the modalities for the merger of Rail Budget with the General Budget had submitted its report in the first week of this month to the Finance Ministry recommending various changes including waiving off of payment of dividend by railways though the practice of getting gross budgetary support (GBS) from the exchequer will continue.

Last month, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said, "I have written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for merger of the Railway Budget with the General Budget. This will be in the railways' interest and also in the nation's interest. We are working out the modalities."

With PTI Inputs