Railways hiked fares up to 4 paisa/km, it will compensate barely 5% of Rs 55000 crore losses: Goyal
New Delhi: Indian Railways has made a "miniscule" hike in fares of up to 4 paisa per km that will barely compensate 5 per cent of the Rs 55,000-crore losses incurred during the year, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Railways hiked passenger fares with effect from January 1 this year.
"As against Rs 8,000 crore which was the loss on passenger services in 2004, in the current period we are losing about Rs 55,000 crore on passenger services provided throughout the country. However, passenger fare increase is a very sensitive subject.... A very nominal increase was done," Goyal said replying to a query during Question Hour.
He said while there is no increase in fares in suburban services. In case of non-suburban services, a nominal increase of one paisa per km has been done and in case of non-AC and AC classes in Mail amd Express trains, the fare has been increased by two paisa per km and 4 paisa per km respectively.
"Costs keep going up. In fact after (implementation of) the 7th Pay Commission, costs have gone up drastically and therefore there is a... miniscule increase. Considering the cost and losses of Rs 55,000 crore, this will barely compensate 5 per cent of Rs 55,000 crore over the whole year," the minister said.
He said as against the current Rs 55,000 crore losses, Indian Railways suffered Rs 8,000 crore losses in 2004.
Terming price increase a sensitive matter, Goyal said, "This is a drop in the ocean towards making railways self- sufficient. Otherwise it will be impossible to improve or provide the services."
Goyal said Indian Railways has been continuously upgrading its services and facilities and during the last 5.5 years, it has undergone significant improvement in level of services, punctuality, cleanliness of stations, safety track record and the replacement of old and worn out equipment.
"Due to all these measures while on the one hand we are improving the railways operations and its passenger services, there is obviously a huge cost element," he said.
Goyal said there is no increase in suburban fare and the passenger segment of it comprised about 66 per cent of total number of passengers.
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BJP accuses AAP of circulating 'edited' videos to malign Swati Maliwal
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi BJP Saturday accused AAP leaders of circulating "edited" videos to tarnish the image of their own party MP Swati Maliwal, who has accused an aide of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of assaulting her.
It is regrettable that "edited" videos are being circulated on social media groups since Friday in an attempt to "defame" Maliwal who is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police arrested Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar who has been accused by Maliwal of assaulting her at the CM's residence on Monday.
A couple of videos from the chief minister's residence from the day of the incident have surfaced on social media, one showed Maliwal having an argument with security personnel, while the other showed her walking out of the CM's residence in the Civil Lines.
"Now that the entire Aam Aadmi Party is tarnishing the image of Swati Maliwal, it's time Kejriwal comes forward and speaks on the matter," Sachdeva said.
The AAP has accused Maliwal of lying and becoming a part of the BJP conspiracy to frame Kejriwal in a fake case in the midst of elections.
Sachdeva said now that Kejriwal's aide has been arrested by police, many "dirty pages" of AAP's politics will become public.
If the AAP is trying to implicate Maliwal by circulating "edited" videos, it would be better for the Delhi Police to immediately take possession of the complete CCTV footage of the chief minister's residence, Sachdeva said.
He charged that Maliwal is not the first woman leader of the AAP that the party has has defamed.
Earlier, they also raised questions about Kiran Bedi, Shazia Ilmi and Richa Pandey who have all left the AAP, Sachdeva added.
