Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda Tuesday said that railways will set up project management group to overcome delays in project execution.According to the minister, who was presenting his maiden budget to the Lok Sabha, a project monitoring and coordination group consisting of officials of state government, railways and professionals will be set up to expedite the projects at the ground level. The minister said that the railways have been suffering heavily because of time and cost overrun due to delays in project completion.
In the last 30 years out of 676 sanctioned projects worth Rs.157,883 crore only 317 projects could be completed and 359 projects remain uncompleted.The minister added that the railways also proposes to set up an Innovations Incubation Center to harness the ideas generated from the railways staff into practical solutions to increase efficiency of the system. The minister said that the innovations which result in cost saving as well as revenue generation will be suitably rewarded in the form of incentive. The minister further announced summer internships program for undergraduates of engineering and management studies.