Published 09:43 IST, February 25th 2021
Railways increases fares for short-distance trains to discourage 'unnecessary travel'
The Railways, which have now started operating local train services, have come under fire from commuters, who are feeling the pinch of the rise in fares.
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After concerns were raised over a rise in the ticket fares of short-distance passenger trains, the Indian Railways on Wednesday explained that the hike was only to discourage unnecessary travel. After easing up the Coronavirus-triggered lockdown, the railways started running only special trains. It started with long-distance trains and now, even short-distance passenger trains are being run as special trains.
In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the fares of these trains have been fixed at par with the price of unreserved tickets of mail and express trains for the same distance, a statement from the railway ministry said.
The railways, which have now started operating passenger or local train services, have come under fire from daily commuters, who are feeling the pinch of the rise in the fares.
"Railways would like to inform that these slightly higher fares for passenger and other short-distance trains had been introduced to discourage people from avoidable travels and those which are not most necessary." their official statement said.
It added, "Covid is still around and in fact, worsening in some states. Visitors from many states are being subjected to screening in other areas and discouraged to travel. The little higher price is to be seen as a pro-active measure of Railways to prevent crowding in trains and stop Covid from spreading."
COVID-19 Cases
India's total tally of COVID-19 cases surged to 1,10,16,434 with 10,584 new infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries have crossed 1.07 crore, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The death toll increased to 1,56,463 with 78 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,07,12,665 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.24 percent and the case fatality rate stands at 1.42 percent. The active coronavirus infections in the country have reduced to 1,47,306 which comprises 1.34 percent of the total caseload, the data stated.
(With PTI Inputs)
09:43 IST, February 25th 2021