Parties bring railwaysurcharge woes to Govt

In an act of unusual camaraderie, the ruling and Opposition formations in Maharashtra are working in tandem to have the proposed Mumbai Urba...

In an act of unusual camaraderie, the ruling and Opposition formations in Maharashtra are working in tandem to have the proposed Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) surcharge on railway commuters deferred for fear of losing support. The surcharge is aimed at supporting the Rs 3,125-crore World Bank-funded project for the modernisation of the suburban railway system at the metropolis.

Sources said because of the efforts of BJP-Shiv Sena combine on one hand and Congress-NCP alliance on the other, the surcharge may be safely off for two years, which implies that it would be imposed after the assembly elections — due next year — are over.

The Congress and Sena are currently agitating against the project. The Congress stir is led by Mumbai Congress chief Gurudas Kamat. The Sena is conducting a free-travel stir to press for a postponement of the surcharge. While the two formations agree on the issue of postponement, they continue to compete with each other for hijacking the credit for it.

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Consequently, the BJP-Sena alliance stole a march over Congress today by taking a delegation led by Ram Naik to Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and making them agree to its demand.

The Petroleum Minister said both his colleagues agreed to postpone the surcharge if Maharashtra sends a request to them. This practically leaves CM Sushilkumar Shinde with little choice. The delegation included former CM and Leader of Opposition Narayan Rane of the Sena, party leader in Lok Sabha Chandrakant Khaire and senior leader Subhash Desai.

The delegation contended that no surcharge be levied till there is improvement in the suburban services. When asked how long it would take the works to show, Naik said: ‘‘Two years.’’ Of the total project cost, the World Bank has provided a loan of Rs 1,600 crore, to be shared equally by state and Centre for repayment. The remaining amount is to be raised by the state, BMC and other agencies.

The surcharge is being levied at a rate of Re 1 and Rs 2 on every first and second class ticket, respectively. In case of season tickets, first-class passengers pay Rs 15 to 120 more while second-class passengers shell out Rs 15 to 20 each on the basis of distance. The surcharge was imposed on September 15 as stipulated in an agreement signed by the state and the Centre on March 27, 2001.