Mumbai:Â Shiv Sena has strongly criticised the Narendra Modi government’s move to hike rail fares. An editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana says the hike is a burden on Mumbaikars and local train passengers will suffer.
Sena says Congress had hiked fares, BJP would have been the first to oppose it. The Saamna editorial says BJP should not hike fares further and impose a burden on the common man.
Within BJP, too, there is a demand to reconsider the hike. Maharashtra BJP MLA Vinod Tawde has tweeted saying the hike must be reconsidered.
“Rail fare hike is too taxing for Mumbaikars. We’ve requested Rajnath Singh to reconsider the proposal,” Tawde tweeted.
The government had on Friday announced a steep hike in the railway passenger fare by 14.2% in all classes and freight by 6.5%. It is the first steep hike in Railway fares in many years.
The local trains are the lifeline for the over 2 crore people of the Mumbai metropolitan region. The city local services consist of three lines – the Western, Central and Harbour lines, ferrying together over 70 lakh people per day.
As per the revised fares, effective June 25, Rs 85 monthly season ticket (II Class) will now cost Rs 150, while a Rs 190 monthly pass will be priced at Rs 480. Similarly, the monthly season pass of Rs 795 for the first class has been revised to Rs 1,930. Likewise, a first class commuter with a monthly pass of Rs 1,740 will now have to shell out Rs 2,120 more for the same journey.