Ahead of state assembly polls in Maharashtra, Modi government goes for partial roll-back

MUMBAI: The upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra seem to have forced the government to put breaks on railway ministry's proposed fare hike plans for the time being.

The fare hike has been softened, especially for those passengers who travel on monthly and quarterly season tickets in Mumbai.

A long meeting in Delhi between railway minister Sadanand Gowda and all MPs from Mumbai and Thane region resulted in the railway minister getting convinced that the fare hike was harsh.

BJP MP from Mumbai Kirit Somaiya told ET on Tuesday night that after an assurance from the railway minister about the roll-back of the fare hike in the afternoon, he received a message from top officers of the railways in Delhi late in the evening that the fare hike for Mumbai had been rolled back for passengers who would travel by second class up to 80 kilometers.

"The fare hike was almost double but now for second class passengers who travel up to 80 km the fare hike has been totally rolled back and for first class passengers the fare hike will be only 14.2 per cent on season tickets.

This is a sign of how sensitive Modi government is. We have also got an assurance from the railway minister that he will specially take up projects to improve Mumbai suburban rail system," said Somaiya.

Mumbai city unanimously voted for the BJP and Shiv Sena in recent Lok Sabha polls. In all six constituencies in the city and suburbs NDA candidates won the Lok Sabha seats. This gave the BJP a signal that they could hope to do well in the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, which are scheduled to be held in October.

But a recent hike in the prices of onions and rail fare hike gave the Congress an opportunity to hit back at the BJP. The Congress party had taken up the issue of railway fare hike and launched major agitations in many parts of Mumbai.

The fare hike amounted to be over 100 per cent in some cases with season ticket fares jumping from Rs 580 to Rs 1,380 per month for a typical distance of about 30 km between Andheri and Churchgate in Mumbai.

This gave the Congress all the ammunition to challenge Modi government's catch line of "Acche Din Ayenge" and ask the question about why the fares were raised to such a level.