Government rolls back rail fare hike partially

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, June 24, 2014:  Bowing to pressure from within its ranks, the NDA government on Tuesday announced a partial rollback in the rail passenger fare hike for the suburban sector, even as train travel becomes costlier by over 14 per cent across the country from Wednesday.

The Railways Ministry announced on Tuesday night that there will be no increase in second-class ordinary fare up to 80 km of travel. It also announced that second-class monthly season tickets will now be charged at 14.2 per cent over the existing rates as per extant instructions.

The Railways also gave some relief to monthly season ticket holders by reverting to 15, instead of 30, the number of trips for which they will have to pay to travel unlimited times in a month.

The move is likely to benefit lakhs of suburban commuters in metros like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi. The revised order said the fare hike in the unreserved segment shall come into force from June 28.

The decision was announced hours after a delegation of BJP and Shiv Sena MPs, including Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, met Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda and demanded re-consideration of the massive increase in passenger fares in the Mumbai suburban sector.

As many as 75 lakh commuters use the Mumbai suburban railway system daily, making it one of the busiest suburban sectors across the country. With Assembly elections in Maharashtra due in October, the fare hike had ruffled feathers within the state BJP and also upset key ally, the Shiv Sena.

An editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamana, had likened the steep hike in suburban rail fare to the common man being run over by a train.

The fare hike announced by the Narendra Modi government had sent the Maharashtra BJP leaders into a tizzy prompting them to work up the phone lines to make senior ministers see reason. They conveyed the anguish among suburban commuters to the central leadership, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda.

“As per the June 20 order, the hike in rail fares to the tune of 250 per cent was unjust. We were assured by the railway minister that the decision would be reconsidered,” Vinod Tawade, Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, told reporters after leading a delegation to the railway minister on Tuesday morning.