Parekh wonders why Railways should run so many hospitals

At a time when the Railways plans to invest Rs 8.56 trillion to develop infrastructure, veteran banker Deepak Parekh today said the government needs to carefully evaluate its finances and focus on building only core assets.

"The time has come for a careful evaluation of the Railways' assets. If resources are scarce, there needs to be greater focus on creating core assets while hiving off other assets.. Evidently, more out-of-the-box solutions are needed," Parekh said at a gathering organised by the industry lobby Indian Merchants Chambers here.

Stating the Railway's finances need to improve, he pointed out that the national transporter" had last year spent about 93 paise to earn Re 1. This year, the Railways has the added burden of Seventh Pay Commission, estimated at Rs 28,000 crore. Clearly, scarce resources have to be carefully allocated." The Railways need to evaluate whether it should continue to have 125 hospitals, 600 polyclinics and 100 schools directly under its wing, he said.

"Secondly, the Railways should monetise some of its vast land holdings. This land parcels may well be used for affordable housing and in turn, it could bring in large resources for the Railways," Parekh said.