The announcement of a hike in railway fares has evoked a mixed response, with the Left and the BJP slamming the decision, while the Congress and the industry backed it.
Calling the hike “unjustified,” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded that the government withdraw the increase in all categories except in the top two classes of AC first class and AC two tier.
It accused the Railway Minister of showing contempt for Parliament by announcing the hike just a month before the Railway budget is to be placed before Parliament and asked all its units to organise protests against the “new burden being imposed on the people.”
In a similar vein, senior leaders of the Communist Party of India Gurudas Dasgupta and D. Raja termed the decision anti-people and called for a rollback.
Mr. Dasgupta criticised the government for adding to the burden on the people who were already reeling under increasing prices of essential commodities. “It is a government which cannot perform,” he said. According to Mr. Raja the railways should have found other ways of raising resources instead of further burdening the common man.
The former president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, said the decision to increase the fare just before the Budget Session of Parliament “exposes the anti-people and anti-democratic face of the UPA government.”
He felt that the “massive” fare hike should have come in small doses.
India Inc., however, welcomed the fare hike decision on the ground that it was needed to bring the railways back on track. Director-general of the Confederation of Indian Industries Chandrajit Banerjee said: “This marginal increase is going to be important in helping the railways to reduce its losses. Also, this will lead to more safety and better services for the passengers.”
The president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry Rajkumar Dhoot too endorsed the move, saying: “The railway infrastructure was in dire straits… to make railways a viable and growing enterprise, the government should not shy away from increasing the tariff as and when necessary.”
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said the fare hike was inevitable. He was, however, evasive on whether the Congress president Sonia Gandhi was consulted.
Keywords: Rail fare hike, Indian railways, CPI(M), Rail fair hike rollback, Railway Budget
The call of the opposition parties for roll back of the rail fare hike
is unjustified. The fare rise has come after ten eyars,. This needs to
be followed by the minsiter for postal services to hike the postal
rates for several postal servies. These too have not been changed
upwards for several years now. Having said this, it should hbe also
pointed out that the rail far eincreas eis not for meeintg expenses on
such fanciful trains like the elitist bullet trains but for the
strenghtening of the rail tracks over the nation;'s net work, speeding
up trains and not for these white elephant scheme of bullet train. It
will be against all canons of justice if the crores of money raised
through fare increasre is spent on bullet trains wshidch cost a huge
amount. The coyutnry can wait for mroe years for this luxury. Imagine
the plight of the people who ttravel on roof tops. Imagine the way
Mumbai suburban commuters travel -as pointed lut by The Eco nomsit
last week- qualifying for post
Instead of staging protest , hartal and bandh , why dont other parties
recommend other options to avoid this increase . CPI(M) way of protest
is causing again greater loss to ppl . Mr.Raja pls take initiative and
share your thoughts for what you suggested -- “should have found other
ways to raise resources than by burdening the people.”
These opposition parties think the railways can be run of water, even if it is water you have to pay for that.
Please Email the Editor