Hike in Freight Charges Criticized; New Schemes Welcomed

NEW DELHI: The steep hike in freight charges in the Indian railway budget evoked sharp criticism from different political parties, which, however, welcomed the new schemes announced by Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the lower house, February 26.

The Congress, the main supporting party of the coalition government, criticized the hike in freight charges saying it would have a cascading effect on prices of essential commodities.

Samata Party President and former railway minister, George Fernandes, wondered whether Paswan would be able to fulfill promises made in the budget in the absence of adequate resources and described it as a ''paper budget.''

He said the new schemes were mostly restricted to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh reflecting the ''narrow thinking'' of Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who hails from the region.

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar, said the railway minister should give a second thought to the proposed hike.

''Though efforts should be made for resource mobilization for new projects, it should not affect the common people,'' he said, adding states like Orissa, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh had not been given their due.

Expressing similar sentiments, Congress Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha Santosh Mohan Dev, was, however, elated at the package of new schemes for north-eastern region.

Admitting that raising of fares and freight charges was inevitable to fund new projects, he felt the 12 percent hike in freight charges was on the higher side. ''We will demand that it should be lowered.''

Madhukar Sarpotdar (Shiv Sena) said the proposed hike would adversely affect the common people and the middle class.

Satrughan Prasad Singh, a CPI MP, said the budget laid emphasis on development but demanded more trains for his home state Bihar.

Communications minister, Beni Prasad Verma, and Nawal Kishore Rai, Yuva Janata Dal President, welcomed the budget and described it as development-oriented.

Forward bloc MP Chitta Basu described the budget as practical, balanced and pragmatic while Jay Prakash of the Haryana Vikas Party regretted that rail development in Haryana had been totally neglected.

Surjit Singh Barnala of the Akali Dal felt that increase in freight rates would fuel inflation and complained that hardly any new scheme had been taken up for Punjab. (PTI)

Copyright © 1996 IndiaWeb Post. All rights reserved.