Both parties felt the budget will increase burden on the common man.
SAD and SP on Wednesday termed the Railway Budget as "directionless", saying it will increase burden on common man.
"The Rail budget is directionless, hopeless and anti-common man," Punjab Chief Minister and SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal told reporters in Chandigarh.
The proposed hike in railway fare is highly deplorable, he said.
Badal also accused the Centre of ignoring Punjab in the budget.
"The anti-Punjab stance of Congress has once again come to the fore as it has deliberately ignored the interest of the border state," he said.
Samajwadi Party also termed the rail budget as "directionless" and "anti-people" in which Uttar Pradesh was totally ignored.
"The railway budget is directionless, which totally ignored UP," party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.
Besides a railway coach factory and a training centre, there was no mention of the state in the budget, he said.
"The hike in fare would increase burden on common man. The budget is anti-people," the SP leader said.
Former Railway Minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad criticised the fare hike and wondered how the Railways, which had clocked profits during his tenure, was reduced to a "dry cow".
"Railways which used to be like a jersey cow (a breed which gives large quantity of milk) has been reduced to a cow whose milk has dried up," he said, adding that fares were never hiked either by him or Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee.
Left parties slammed the hike in passenger fares, saying it came close on the heels of rise in freight charges for most commodities like coal, fertilisers, foodgrains, steel and cement, notified earlier this month.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said "a plethora of promises made in one year is forgotten the next year" and added, "The silence or obfuscation of Trivedi on these promises confirms that announcements made by Mamata Banerjee as Railway Minister in 2010 and 2011 were all gimmicks and fraud on Indian people".
The "anti-people nature" of the rail budget is "further exposed" by the announcement of adding a 'fuel adjustment component' to passenger fares, which implies periodic increase in rail fares in tandem with hike in fuel prices, he said.
Maintaining that the recommendations by the Sam Pitroda committee favoured privatisation of the Railways, Yechury said the British Railways were privatised and re-nationalised within a few years as privatisation did not work.
"The path being undertaken by the Railways is a recipe for disaster," he said, adding it was "ridiculous" that global tenders would be floated for catering services which would attract MNCs like McDonalds at the cost of Indian caterers.
Terming the budget as "anti-people", CPI leaders Gurudas Dasgupta said it "hid more than it revealed" as the Railway Minister has not given actual figures or percentage on the hike, while his party colleague D Raja said it would impose huge burden on the people.
CPI(ML) demanded immediate withdrawal of the fare hike.
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