The Indian government on Thursday scrapped plans to hike most rail fares, underscoring the Congress-led coalition''s growing difficulties in implementing tough policy decisions. "I intend to give relief to the already burdened common man," the new Railway Minister Mukul Roy told parliament after his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi resigned on Sunday over the controversial issue.
Trivedi had announced the increases in rail fares, a touchstone issue among millions of Indians, only last week but the proposed rises triggered fury from his populist Trinamool Congress party, which is part of the ruling coalition. The dilapidated railways, still the main form of long-distance travel in India despite fierce competition from airlines, run thousands of passenger and freight trains and carry millions of people daily.
G. Raghuram, a transport expert and professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, said the network - which is key to the nation''s future economic growth - would suffer after the rollback. "The hike was an important step because it broke the norm that fares cannot be touched because of political compulsions," he said. "The rollback sets a wrong premise." Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suffered a series of embarrassing policy setbacks in recent months as his fractious coalition government struggles to push through its liberalisation agenda.