Justifying the hike in rail fares, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said it was a “sound economic decision” given the financial health of railways.
Mr Chidambaram also sought to make light the opposition criticism of the decision saying it was fair game for them to oppose the fare hike for the sake of opposition.
“I think these are sound economic decisions. I think we should not politicise these decisions. Of course, economic decisions are taken by a political government but they do not cease to be economic decisions,” he told reporters here.
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“Railway fare hike is an economic decision. Railway fares have not been hiked for 10 years,” he further said.
Mr Chidambaram also said there was no proposal before the Cabinet to increase diesel prices.