Hundreds of Congress workers, led by Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh, held protests in different parts of the city against the rail fare hike announced by the Narendra Modi Government on Friday.
Demanding a revision of the hike, workers along with senior leaders of the party gathered at Janakpuri, Sulatnpuri and Hauz Qazi in Old Delhi and burnt effigies of Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda. Traffic was disrupted at Pankha Road in Janakpuri and Jalebi Chowk in Sultanpuri as the protesters blocked the road.
The police had to use mild force and water canons at Pankha Road to disperse the protesters after they tried to march to the Delhi Cantonment railway station to disrupt rail services.
Demanding immediate withdrawal of the fare hike, Mr. Singh said: “The increase of freight rates would further push the prices of essential commodities. It would also increase the prices of coal, which would further push the power rates upward. It would be an additional burden for the Delhi residents as the DERC is all set to increase the power rates.”
“We were promised achche din. If Mr. Modi can’t live up to his promises of bringing down inflation, cutting price rise, he should at least check it from increasing further,” he said.
Some of the senior party leaders, who led the protest, include Congress Legislative Party leader Haroon Yusuf, ex-MP Sajjan Kumar, ex-MP Mahabal Mishra, ex-MLA Mukesh Sharma and senior MLA Jai Kishan.
The Narendra Modi-government on Friday raised the railway passenger fares by 14.2 percent in all classes and freight charges by 6.5 percent. The new passenger fares and freight rates will come into effect from June 25.
