I have requested Mamta Banerjee to send a copy of the White Paper to those who came from Wharton, Stanford and Harvard to meet Laloo to see the turnaround of Indian Railways brought about by him.
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Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented a white paper document in Parliament on Friday, giving details of the finances of the Indian Railways and raising concerns over the irregularities perpetrated during the previous tenure.
The performance of railways was "below par" during 2004-05 to 2008-09 when the RJD chief was at the helm of affairs, the White Paper laid by railway minister Mamata Banerjee claimed.
"Analysis of the overall growth of railways during the period shows that the performance was below par if the normally accepted growth elasticity of 1.25 is reckoned," the report, tabled amid din, said.
Prasad was present in the House when the report was laid. Noting that losses from passenger operation was almost Rs 14,000 crore in 2008-09, the document said a new form of presentation of accounts was started during the Lalu regime which projected a concept of cash surplus before dividend which made the Railway finances "look good".
If these presentation changes had not been done, the accumulated surplus of Rs 89,000 crores during the five-year period would come down to Rs 39,500 crore.
This reduction also includes the impact of Pay Commission arrear payments which have been taken to the years in which it actually accrued, the 70-page document said.
Seeking to give a lie to Prasad's claims about his period being the golden era of the Railways, the White Paper said the best period financially in the last 20 years was 1991-96 (when CK Jaffer Sharief was Railway Minister) and "not the last five years."
