Mukul Roy rolls back fare hike in all categories up to AC-3 tier to grant relief to the ‘burdened aam admi’, calls predecessor’s decision unjustified
Succumbing to pressure from Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, the UPA government on Thursday announced a partial rollback of railway fares to grant relief to the “burdened aam admi”.
Terming the hike by his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi “unjustified” and an act against the masses, new railway minister Mukul Roy withdrew the hike in passenger fares for second class suburban and non-suburban, Sleeper, AC Chair Car and AC 3-tier which was announced last week.
However, fares of AC 2-tier and AC-I, presumed to be used by the rich, which were increased by 15 paise per km and 30 paise per km respectively, remained untouched.
“The proposal to increase fare by 2 paise per km, 3 paise per km and 5 paise per km in the second class suburban and non-suburban and the sleeper class is a huge drain on the pocket of the masses... Similarly, increase in the fare of AC chair car and AC 3-tier, which is now patronised by the middle class, is also quite severe. I intend to give relief to the already over burdened common man by not effecting any increase in these classes,” said Roy, prompted along by his Cabinet colleagues. Roy’s please-all budget was easily passed in the Lok Sabha.
He also put on hold Trivedi’s proposal of setting up a committee to examine the possibility of an independent tariff regulatory authority and even scrapped his proposal to expand the Railway Board. Trivedi was not present in the Lok Sabha when Roy announced the rollback.
Like an obedient commander, Roy spoke about what pleases his boss, Mamata Banerjee. “The concern of the common man is over-riding, even if it means biting the bullet of a different kind. The impact of the fare hike on the aam aadmi is huge,” Roy said.
He also promised a special drive for cleanliness, safety and clearing backlog of weaker section applicants during the ongoing recruitment drive for over one lakh vacancies.
Allaying fears of railways’ financial losses due to the rollback, Roy talked about launching an aggressive drive to mop up resources from non-conventional sources like public-private partnership projects. He said there will be focused approach on using vacant land and airspace available with the railways to raise resources. Advertising as a source of revenue will also be explored.
Major initiatives will be launched to construct overbridges, revamp telecommunications, rolling stock and terminals, he said.
Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha, Roy promised to do away with all unmanned crossings in the country. Incidentally, his first day in office had started with the bad news of 15 people being killed in an accident at one such unmanned crossing.
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