New Delhi: Sticking to the populist demand and reaching out to the common man, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu in his maiden Budget did not hike passenger fare. Advance booking for reserved tickets has been increased to 120 days from 60 days.
Before 2012-13 there had been no increase in rail fares for 10 years, when the then railway minister and Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi made an across-the-board hike. Trivedi was sacked from the Cabinet and the fare hike was rolled back in second and sleeper class categories.
Since then passenger fares have been raised quite a few times. In the first railway budget of the Modi government in July 2014, fares were increased by 14.2% and freight by 6.5%.
Following the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his stress on 'Swachh Bharat' campaign, Prabhu also focussed 'Swachh Rail' drive, saying 'Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat'.
He proposed to build new toilets and bio toilets in passenger coaches. He also intends to replace another 17,000 toilets and introduce vacuum toilets like the ones used in aeroplane.
He appealed to people saying 'railways is your travelling home, please keep it clean'. He also proposed the availability of disposable linen on payment at all stations.
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