Piyush Goyal, the man who Prime Minister Narendra Modi banked on for turning around India's crisis-prone power sector, is now his crisis manager for the Indian Railways. Goyal, according to sources, takes over from Suresh Prabhu who has been in a spot over a recent spate of train accidents.
Prabhu gets to manage the power portfolio, sources quoting ET Now said.
Goyal has a clean image owing to his good track record in the Power and Coal ministry. He was the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power,Coal, New and Renewable Energy.
He has been seen to have delivered scam-free auctions in coal and brought about a turnaround in production, ending days of persistent domestic short supplies that had led to higher imports. In the power sector, the difficult task of getting state utilities to recast their debt and improve accountability and viability in transmission and tariffs has got off the ground through the Udaan scheme.
However, Rail Ministry is a different cup of tea altogether. As the Rail Minister, Goyal has just under two years' time before the 2019 general elections to deliver which includes finishing some of Modi's dream projects while reducing, if not eliminating, accidents altogether. He also has to find a way to keep the rise of train fares on the minimal side while boosting Railways' revenue.
Earlier, Prabhu had offered his resignation, owing moral responsibility, to Modi after a series of train accidents.
The Opposition had gunned for Prabhu after the Kalinga Utkal Express accident this month. The train accident at Khatauli in western UP on August 19 that killed 23 people was followed by revelations of appalling negligence by railway staff.
The accidents also claimed scalp of railway board chairman A K Mittal who stepped down following a nudge from the government. He has been replaced with Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director of Air India, who is originally from the Indian Railway Mechanical Engineering department.
The accidents also claimed scalp of railway board chairman A K Mittal who stepped down following a nudge from the government. He has been replaced with Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director of Air India, who is originally from the Indian Railway Mechanical Engineering department.
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