New Delhi, Sept 17: Railway Minister Nitish Kumar today threw the ball in Maharashtra government's court over the issue of surcharge on suburban train tickets saying the Centre was ready to postpone the hike if state government agreed. The assurance was given by the minister to a delegation of Shiv Sena-BJP leaders which included former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, Sena general secretary Subhash Desai, party MPs Chandrakant Khaire as also Union Ministers Ram Naik, Jayawantiben Mehta and Anandrao Adsul.

"Because the proceeds are equally divided between the Centre and the Maharashtra government, we have no objection to postponing the surcharge if the Maharashtra government agrees to it," Kumar told reporters. Later, Desai, whose party is holding demonstrations and picketing in Mumbai over the issue, said that a decision would be taken by the party leadership on continuation or otherwise of the agitation.

The Shiv Sena leader told reporters separately that the commuters have been subjected to the fare hike despite any visible and effective improvement in rail services.

The Railway Ministry has hiked the train fares on the suburban section from early this week to raise funds for completion of the ambitious MUTP project, which envisages among others things major changes in the transport system of the metropolis. Desai said that the surcharge was levied following a communication from the state government sometime back.

Bureau Report