Railways spent one third of every rupee earned on staff wages and other allowances while putting just two paise of the rupee on the safety fund and similar amount on special railway safety fund during the year 2001-02.

According to the Railway Budget presented by Nitish Kumar in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, almost two-third of department's earnings -- 63 paise of every rupee, came from goods traffic earnings followed by passanger earnings at 29 paise.

In spending the rupee, fuel consumption was second highest, after staff wages and their allowances, at 17 paise followed by the pension fund at 14 paise, the minister said in the Lok Sabha.

The spending of the rupee on development of railways also continued to be low at just two paise of every rupee while spending three paise for the purpose of dividend.

In the earnings part, other than goods traffic and passanger earnings, rest of the categories collectively contributed just eight paise of every rupee came in.

Of every rupee came in, the department of Railways also spent eight paise on lease charges, six paise on storage and five paise for depreciation reserve fund, the minister said.

PTI