Railways expert committee to submit report next week

KOLKATA - The expert committee, set up by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee to explore ways to promote partnership between the railways and industries, will submit its initial report next week, committee chairman Amit Mitra said here Friday.

“The opportunities that are there in the form of low hanging fruits have been identified (in the report),” Mitra, also the secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), said during an interactive session between Banerjee and industrialists.

He said the report was prepared in a short time of 15 days since the committee was set up.

“We will hand it over to the ministry next week,” Mitra said.

Mitra, however, refused to divulge the recommendations, saying it was up to the minister to disclose these.

“What the ministry wants has been clearly mentioned in her budget speech and we only worked on them,” Mitra said.

Banerjee during her first meeting with industrialists Friday repeatedly asked them to extend their hands for public-private partnership projects with the railways.