New Delhi: The opposition parties came down heavily on the Narendra Modi government lambasting its decision of a steep hike in rail fare and freight charges. Terming the government's move as "criminal", the opposition parties questioned why the decision was taken just a few days before the commencement of Parliament session.
"After coming into government, without taking Parliament into confidence and without bringing out a white paper, they have increased the fare. What kind of a sensitivity is this that those who till yesterday were talking about 'aam
aadmi' (common man) and how his concerns should be addressed, have now started doing the opposite by imposing as much burden as they can on the so called 'aam aadmi' who voted them to power," Congress leader Manish Tewari questioned.
Congress General Secretary and head of its media department Ajay Maken too, took potshots at BJP's poll slogan of "good days are to come" by saying that the "gift" by the Modi government is putting an additional burden on the shoulders of the middle class, lower middle class and the poor.
Left was also critical of the move and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "reward" to the people, whom he had promised to bring relief. "We strongly condemn the unprecedented hike in railway fare. This is going to be a huge
burden on the people at a time when they are already battling relentless price rise," CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat said adding that the decision showed the hypocrisy of the government. "When the Congress used to do it in between Parliament sessions or pre-budget, they would say how undemocratic it is and exactly that undemocratic bypassing of Parliament is what the Modi government has done," she said.
Former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar slammed the government for continuing with a bad precedent started by the UPA. "This should have been done at the time of Budget. This is a bad tradition started in the last few years and this government is following the same which is wrong, the JDU chief said.
The Trinamool Congress came down heavily on the Modi government saying that there was no respite for common man. "Is this a super rail budget before the rail budget? The common man is already burdened, now he will be over-burdened," Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP and spokesman Derek O'Brien said.
The Samajwadi Party also questioned the relevance of the increase at a time when the budget session has been is scheduled in July, what is the relevance of increasing the fares before that. Then what is the relevance of Parliament," SP leader Naresh Aggarwal said.
Strongly opposing the hike in railway passenger fares and freight tariff, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said that the people should be ready to get burdened in the general budget as well. "This is the beginning of good times.
I could not understand that when the budget session urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll back the increase in the interests of the poor and the middle class people.
The Narendra Modi government on Friday announced a steep hike in the railway passenger fare by 14.2 per cent in all classes and freight by 6.5 per cent. It increased prices will be effective from June 25. It is the first steep hike in Railway fares in many years.
The Modi government has increased the fare just two weeks before its first Railways budget just to keep it outside the budget and lessen the impact of fare hike. By increasing the Railways fare, Modi has sent out a strong signal to the people that he is not interested in populist measures.
The decision was taken by previous Railways minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge but he had left it to the next government to implement the order. Soon after the announcement of the hike, Railways minister Sadanand Gowda defended the decision saying that he merely implemented his predecessor's decision.
The Railways, which is facing a huge financial crisis is expected to use the extra money for major Railways works and better amenities for the passengers. Several important Railways works have been stuck at various stages due to paucity of funds.
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