The government has given in to the demand of the Trinamool Congress to rollback the rail fare hike in the Railway Budget presented by former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on March 14.
The newly appointed Railway Minister Mukul Roy announced in the parliament that rail fares for 3rd AC, general and sleeper class will not be hiked, keeping in mind the interest of the common man.
"The proposal to increase fare by 2 paise per km, 3 paise per km and 5 paise per km in second class suburban and non-suburban and 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," announced the Railway Minister.
However, fare hikes in 1st and 2nd Class AC, as presented by Trivedi will remain unchanged.
Trivedi was forced to step down as the railway minister after he presented a bold Railway Budget where he hiked passenger fares across all classes ranging from two paise to 30 paise per km, the first hike in a decade. Angry over the fare hike, Trinamool Congress party chief and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack him immediately.
