Railway fare hike: Mayawati demands rollback, says it is anti-common man

Lucknow: A day after the government announced a hike in railway fares, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the decision was against the common man. Demanding a rollback, Mayawati said hike in railway fares was "one of the many anti-common man policies of the government".

Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday announced an across-the-board hike in fares of all classes to net an additional Rs 6,600 crore a year. The new fares will be effective from January 21 midnight. The announcement, which was a made only about a month ahead of the Railway Budget, is the first such increase in railway fares in nearly a decade.

Defending the government's decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the decision had to be taken because maintenance of public services comes at a cost. "The maintenance of standards in public services comes at a cost. That cost has to be defrayed in a Public Private partnership," Tewari tweeted on Wednesday.

The BSP chief said the decision to hike railway fares was one of the anti-common policies of the government.

(With additional information from PTI)

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