RailEnquiry

KOLKATA: Metro Railway fares will be increased in the next few days, minister of state for railways Adhir Chowdhury said on Tuesday.The minister, who was at Sealdah station during the day, also spoke on political violence in Bengal and the Park Street rape on the sidelines of a railway programme."Metro fares will certainly be increased. This is bound to happen when all fares have been increased. Wait for the railway budget. The new fare structure may also come into effect before that. Just wait for a few days," Chowdhury said in reply to a question.He, however, did not provide details on what the new fares would be, though.This was Chowdhury's first official programme in Kolkata after he took over as minister of state for railways.Unlike his predecessors, the MP from Behrampore in Murshidabad had invited leaders across party lines to the programme, in which he announced the introduction of eight local trains and a weekly express between Barrackpore and Azamgarh.

Among those who attended were CPM leader and MP Prasanta Chatterjee and Ahmad Saeed Malihabadi, an independent candidate who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state with support from Congress and CPM.

"I was pleasantly surprised when I received an invitation to this programme. This culture seemed to have disappeared in the state in the recent past. On one occasion, I even spoke to railway officials and pointed out that such programmes are government ones and not organized by political parties," Chatterjee, a former mayor of Kolkata, said.

It was clear that Chowdhury has his eyes on the forthcoming Assembly by-elections and panchayat polls. The announcement of the weekly express train from Barrackpore to Azamgarh, in UP, was aimed at attracting the minority and non-Bengali voter.

Azamgarh has a high density of people from the minorities with relatives in Bengal. A large number of people who work as labourers in Barrackpore and adjoining industrial areas also belong to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, through which the train will pass, Chowdhury said.

"We are doing our best to provide better services to passengers. We can't do everything that we would want to do due to insufficient funds. Passengers should also behave more responsibly to ensure smooth running of trains," Chowdhury said.

Speaking to journalists after the programme, Chowdhury said that it is a shame that a year has gone by but authorities in West Bengal haven't managed to arrest the Park Street rape accused. "The Delhi rape and murder was gruesome but at least the police managed to arrest the culprits without any delay. The problem here is that the administration is involved in political violence. Such violence is going on across the state. We do apprehend violence during the by-polls at Rejinagar. Whoever has been in power in Bengal, whether it is the CPM or the Trinamool Congress, is out to prevent the Congress from winning any seats by whatever means possible," the minister said.