After becoming Chief Minister of West Bengal or Poschim Banga, Mamata Banerjee seems to have lost her equilibrium. While it was known that she is averse to any hike in rail fares despite the inflation which has jacked up the price of every commodity under the sun. Dinesh Trivedi the Railway Minister put up a rail budget that on the face of it appears logical. Notwithstanding severe criticism from his own party the Trinamool Congress and the knowledge that he could come under the guillotine Trivedi did what he thought was good for the Railways and not what is populist. The hike in passenger fares has come almost after a decade. In the last 10 years, the rate of inflation had been high. This makes the Railways Department non-viable as Government had to dip into the treasury to finance the shortfalls. It is inevitable that the fares should be raised to upgrade services and to improve the financial health of Economists across the board have praised Dinesh Trivedi for taking this bold step of raising the fares and proposing to make rail travel safer. The minister had said he would be aiming to reduce the operating ratio from the current 95 percent to 84 percent in 2012-13.
Some economists however have said that the fare hike should have been made from the sleeper class to AC class and not for all classes. Others have questioned fare hike in second class without increasing the amenities. These are matters of debate. During his budget speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Trivedi had said that he was only asking for an extra two paise per km on suburban and ordinary second class and an increase of three paise per km for mail and express trains. For sleeper class the hike is only 5 paise; for AC chair car and III tier, only 10 paise per km; for AC II tier 15 paise per km and AC I class by 30 paise per km. Going by this, for over a 100-km run, the fares will go up by Rs 2 on suburban and ordinary II class trains, Rs.5 for sleeper class, Rs.10 for AC chair car and III tier, Rs.15 for AC II tier and Rs.30 for AC first class. But Mamata Banerjee without thinking of the long term consequences has called for a roll back even though she is part of the UPA government. Banerjee has also named Mukul Roy as a substitute to Dinesh Trivedi. Such political sulks and tantrums are harmful in the long run and will destroy the economy of the country. But this is the price that democracy with its numbers game demands. How long can the UPA take this slight from the grand dame of West Bengal?