TMC protests railway fare hike, demands rollback

Terming the recent fare hikes in the railway as well as in the city Metro Railways as anti-people, the ruling Trinamool Congress today demanded immediate rollback.

"This fare hike is anti-people and it must be withdrawn," TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said at a rally today.

Party MPs Suvendu Adhikari, Transport minister Madan Mitra and some MLAs were present in the rally which hit the streets of the city from College Square to the Sealdah station.

Bandopadhyay, a former Union Minister of State, claimed that the Railway Ministry decided put on hold the fare hikes of the city's Metro Railway following protests by his party.

On October 15, Union Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had announced that the fare hike of Metro Railway Kolkata had been put on hold and stages would be changed after a discussion with the Rail Board.

Chowdhury had said that the issue would be discussed at a meeting scheduled early November, adding that he would place a few proposals to the Rail Board for a rational fare hike.

Metro Railway Kolkata, the first underground railway system in the country, had on the same day announced steep hike in fares after 13 years and the new fare structure was scheduled to be implemented from tomorrow.