Ticketless travel gets dearer in rly budget

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 25: The railway budget spared the long-suffering Mumbai commuter from any further increase in season ticket fares.With R...

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 25: The railway budget spared the long-suffering Mumbai commuter from any further increase in season ticket fares.

With Railway Minister Nitish Kumar proposing no hike in the second class season tickets, the common man in the city which carries half of the country’s rail passengers every day heaved a sigh of relief. Increase in fares had been a regular feature of rail budgets in the last few years, but Union minister of state for railways Ram Naik seems to have prevailed over Kumar to desist from burdening the Mumbai commuter, the state assembly elections being a year away. However, the budget is silent on the first class season fares and the weekly passes as proposed by Naik in pre-budget functions.

Most Mumbaikars, however, are cynical about the proposal to increase the fine for ticketless travel from Rs 50 to Rs 250. “I wonder if the jails will have enough space to house if a large majority of those caught do not have the amount with them,” said C T Singhi, secretary of thePassengers’ and Traffic Relief Association. Senior officials in the railways too expressed the same doubt, given that nearly 500 people are caught travelling without tickets in the city every day.

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However, the proposal to ban sale of cigarettes on railway platforms has been welcomed by passenger associations. The ban comes into effect from June five, the World Environment Day.

The budget has put the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) on track with an allocation of Rs 300 crore for metropolitan projects in Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. Going by past record, Mumbai has always managed to garner more than half of this allocation every year.

According to R S Varshneya, the chief administrative officer of infrastructure, (MUTP-II), the city had received nearly Rs 160 crore out of the previous years allocation of Rs 251 crore for the three metros. “If we manage to get nearly Rs 180 crore, we will be able to complete the 5-6th line between Kurla and Thane as well as the 5th line between Santacruz-Borivli byMarch 2000,” he claimed. He, however, added that these projects depended on the speed with which the encroachments on railway land are removed.

The introduction of a new train between Mumbai and Madgaon has been the high point of the Konkan Rail Corporation in the budget. In addition to this, the proposal to start a Star Service on the route is being seen as a move to woo business travellers. This scheme involves the introduction of a train for which the reservation opens only a few days prior to the departure. “It will offer quick and comfortable service to executives, at a premium,” said a spokesperson of the corporation.