The whole idea of a separate corporation was mooted for reducing dependence of suburban services on the annual budgetary allocations. It was aimed at better utilising the revenue generated through locals for the commuters and raising additional finances from the market for future growth. But in the squeezing domestic and international money markets the prospects of raising finances at an affordable rate don't look very encouraging. The domestic market faces a recession even as the political risk premium for India in the international arena has already reached an unaffordablelevel. Similarly, uncertainty surrounds the MUTP-II project which involves a large component of the World Bank loan. If the World Bank member countries, in toe with the USA, decide to ``punish India for its nuclear crime,'' the future of the project could be in jeopardy. Considering the Konkan Railway Corporation's experience, nobody believes that the domestic resources would be enough to shape up suburban services. If the Railway Ministry believes so, the 54 lakh daily commuters of Mumbai, almost half of the daily train users in the country, have the right to know how.

The railway minister needs to tell us more than what the commuters of Mumbai should have heard a long time ago. There is an urgent need to take the open-market social venture out of the realm of political euphoria before the dreams of commuters die an unnatural death.