Mr. Trivedi has presented a very good budget. His proposals like modernising railway stations, introducing green toilets on trains, improving cleanliness and hygiene and steps to increase safety measures are welcome. All this is bound to increase the comfort of passengers. And they come at a cost, so I feel the hike in passenger fares is justified.
Poonam Saxena,Chennai
We, the people, are already reeling under the impact of rising prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, electricity, bus fare, and what not. It is not as if the hike in Railway fares alone will bring more suffering. Moreover, the fare increase is not going to take effect from tomorrow — there is plenty of time for discussions and debate.
D.V. Raghavan,Bangalore
A typical middle class point of view would be that if the hike in railway fares was inevitable, it could have been in slabs of km, instead of per km. The Minister could have perhaps increased the fares of first-class and A.C. travel, leaving second class sleeper travel untouched.
Manas Agnihotri,Hyderabad
Notwithstanding the criticism by the Opposition and the Trinamool Congress, the Railway Minister has presented a good budget. That he had to present a crisis budget was known. The fare hike is minimum and gradual, and required to sustain the viability of one of the largest transport networks.
M.K. Shanmugam,Tiruchi
