Budget 2020: Railways Gets Rs 70,000 Cr Allocation, Defence Budget Marginally Hiked By 6%

The defence budget was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 against last year's Rs 3.18 lakh crore.

New Delhi: Railways got a fair chunk of the pie from the Union Budget  with a sizable  budgetary allocation of Rs 70,000 crore and the highest-ever outlay for capital expenditure amounting to Rs 1.61 lakh crore on Saturday. The capital expenditure of Rs 1.61 crore is higher than revised estimate of 2019-20 by 2.99 per cent. Meanwhile the defence budget allocation was not in line with what the military experts had projected amid government's push for fast-track modernisation of the armed forces. The defence budget was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 against last year's Rs 3.18 lakh crore. Out of total allocation, Rs 1.13 lakh crore has been set aside for capital outlay to purchase new weapons, aircraft, warships, and other military hardware, according to the Union Budget presented in Lok Sabha on Saturday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Railway Outlay and Allocation  Last year, the outlay for the railways was Rs 1.60 lakh crore while the Budget allocation was Rs 65,837 crore. In the 2020-21 Budget, funds of Rs 12,000 crore been allocated for construction of new lines, Rs 2,250 crore for gauge conversion, Rs 700 crore for doubling, Rs 5,786.97 crore for rolling stock and Rs 1,650 crore for signalling and telecom. The allocation for rail passenger comfort this fiscal is Rs 2,725.63 crore from Rs 1,881.39 crore in the revised Budget presented in July last year. In the 2019-20 financial year, the budgetary allocation for railway passenger amenities was Rs 3,422.57 crore. However, what will remain the Railways' major headache would be its revenue expenditure which includes an estimated salary payout of Rs 92,993.07 crore, about Rs 6,000 crore more than last year. The railways has kept a target of commissioning new new lines, gauge conversions and the doubling of board guage sections in 2020-21 to 3,750 kms against 3,150 kms in 2019-20