Budget dishonest,cannot justify hike

Jaitley said there was no justification for fare hike since freight fares had been hiked by 20 per cent only last week. And instead of being straightforward over the price hike,you have presented a formula in paise,the impact of which is in thousands of crore, he added.

In a separate statement,the BJP alleged that in the past eight years of its rule,the UPA government bled the Railways red. The Railways is going the Air India way. The operating ratio has gone up from 75 per cent to 95 per cent. The Railway minister promises to bring it down to 84 per cent but without any improvement in efficiency8230; it is no rocket science that if you increase freight and passenger fares,the operating ratio will come down, the statement said.

The BJP said big claims of focus on railway safety were made in the Budget,but there was no clarity on resource mobilisation. Despite 374 deaths in 2010-11,the government has no money to spend on safety, it said.

Questioning the Railway ministers claim that the hike in passenger fares was nominal,the BJP noted that passenger revenue was slated to go up by Rs 28,000 crore,a 28 per cent increase over the current Rs 1,04,000 crore,while at the same time,passenger traffic would increase by only 5.4 per cent. The balance 22 per cent would,therefore,have to represent increase in passenger fares,the statement said.