Suburban commuters threaten protests if projects are stalled

A day after railway authorities hinted that suburban projects for 2015-16 proposed to the railway board may get stalled, commuter activists have criticised the Centre.

In a press release issued on Monday, Central Railway has stated that railway board has asked for a balance in annual expenditure and income.

HT Image

The suburban railway has incurred a loss of Rs724.47crore in 2013-14.

The administration has blamed this on the rollback of the suburban fares in June this year following protests.

They fear that the projects may not get sanctioned even in next Rail Budget due to lack of funds.

The officials say that only ways of cutting down the losses is to increase the price of the monthly passes.

Shirish Deshpande, chairman. Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, said, “The fare hike should commensurate with better services, which are improving, but at a slow pace.”

“The Mumbai division is anyway neglected and they are now blaming us for protesting. We will agitate further if the projects are not sanctioned,” said Aniket Ghamandi, a member of railway suburban passenger federation.