AIDWA strongly condemns the unprecedented hike in railway fares by the BJP Government at the centre announced on June 20th 2014 to the extent of 14.2 per cent in all classes and 6.5 per cent in the freight charges.
This hike will further burden the ordinary people, who are already suffering from the steep increase in the prices of all other essential commodities. A large section of workers, especially women in the unorganized sector, who commute daily by suburban trains, will be severely affected by the hike. Moreover, the increase in freight rates will have a cascading impact on prices of essential commodities, which are transported by rail across the country.
This unreasonable increase occurs just a few weeks before the annual rail budget, thereby exposing the callousness of the Government towards maintaining democratic norms of decision-making. AIDWA points out that the draconian hike is a sample of the kind of “good times” that the Prime Minister Mr. Modi has been promising to the citizens of this country.
AIDWA demands immediate rollback of the price hike. It calls on all its units to protest against the increase in rail fares, unitedly with other sections of the democratic movement.
