New Delhi: The demand for partial rollback of the hike in the freight and passenger fare in the Railway Budget gained momentum on Tuesday with key UPA constituent DMK making a pitch for the reconsideration of the decision.
Participating in the discussion on the Railway Budget, DMK member E G Sugavanam asked the Government to "reconsider" the decision to increase the passenger fare hike that is around 35 per cent.
Demanding a "scaledown" of the rail passenger hike, he said it was essential to reduce the burden on common man.
Trinamool Congress has effected a change of guard by bringing in Mukul Roy as Railway Minister, unhappy over the proposal for a passenger fare hike by its nominee Dinesh Trivedi who presented the railway budget.
P C Chacko, who opened innings on behalf of the Congress, also noted that there could be a partial rollback insisting at the same time that the hike could not be considered reasonable given the financial position of the railways.
Ramachandra Dome (CPI-M) also demanded a rollback of the passenger fare hike.
Opposing the proposal to increase the freight charges, he said it will have an "inflationary and cascading impact" on the economy.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 17:25