The incumbent BJP led government has been under fire since the announcement of the Rail Fare hike, and why not the railways are the life lines of India. commodity prices are directly linked to railway freight rates. But is this a decision by NDA or is it a price being paid for policy paralysis that had gripped the nation for most part of the last decade, in which Mr. Manmohan Singh decided to remain tight lipped and rule the nation.
As per reports on Times Now, television news channel, the actual rail fare hike had been suggested back in February, but since the then Prime Minister Mr. Singh was concern more about the upcoming elections, the decision was pushed forward to be implemented from May. The overall loss that Indian Railways has faced due to this election related reason is more than Nine Hundred Crore Rupees, with daily losses amounting to around thirty Crore Rupees per day.
The Indian railways is already under tremendous pressure due to huge subsidies (amounting to around Rs. 26,000 Crore per annum) on pricing as Railways Pricing directly effects the public in general and most of the Railways Ministers have decided to hold back the fare hikes and have resulted in paralysing the expansion and up-gradation plans of Indian Railways. There are many projects which are lying on the back burner for decades due to non-availability of funds. We all know what happens to a system which is not upgraded it can keep on rolling due to the inert momentum for a long while disguising the effects of breakdowns and low maintenance but the day of complete annihilation can come any-time.
The opposition is shouting foul on the price hike, but what one needs to look into is why such a steep increase is required, the increased fares will bring in around Six Thousand Crores of additional income every year, it will still leave a lot of subsidy burden on the Railways. But this additional fund would also be utilised for up-gradation of railways infrastructure, which inturn will result in better services and faster trains that will help people in general.
Now the decision lies with you of whether the price hike is justified or not one needs to see who designed and who is getting blamed for it...
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