New Delhi:
Mamata Banerjee has had her way. The new Railways Minister, Mukul Roy, announced in Parliament today that there will be no fare hike in the sleeper class, AC 3-tier and AC chair car.
He, however, kept untouched the increase of 15 paise per km and 30 paise per km respectively in passenger fares in AC 2-tier and AC First Class, announced by his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi in the Railway Budget last week.
That announcement cost Mr Trivedi his job - a furious Ms Banerjee, who is the chief of Mr Trivedi's party, asked the Prime Minister to remove him, creating an unprecedented political crisis with a minister stepping down before his budget was discussed in Parliament. Mr Trivedi defied Ms Banerjee for four days, then finally resigned on Sunday night. He was replaced by her party's Mukul Roy.
Mr Roy described the rollback as "in the interest of the common man." Mr Trivedi had suggested an increase ranging from 2 paise per km to 30 paise per km.
With 19 Lok Sabha MPs, Mr Banerjee is a senior member of the ruling coalition but has often clashed with the government she belongs to.
Ms Banerjee had said that an increase in passenger fares would hurt the aam aadmi or common man. The rollback greatly dents the government's image by proving that with a shaky coalition, the Prime Minister is in no position to introduce even small reforms like increasing train ticket prices. Ms Banerjee forced the Prime Minister late last year to suspend his reforms in retail - his government wanted to allow 51% foreign direct investment or FDI in multi-brand stores which would have allowed international super-chains like Wal-Mart to sell directly to Indian consumers.