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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged the Centre to immediately roll back the 15 per cent hike in railway freight charges. In a statement, she said this would affect the country's economy further and common people would get affected more.
“It’s akin to adding fuel to the fire,” she said. The 15 per cent hike is effective from October to June, which is considered a busy season. The hike in freight charges would lead to increase in prices of all essential commodities, as well as that of industrial raw materials such as cement, coal and iron, she added.
The price hike comes at a time when the common people are going through various hardships. The people are in a sorry state of affairs due to inflation. The Centre should immediately roll back the freight hike, she said.
Under its dynamic pricing policy, the Centre has classified the nine-month period from October to June as 'busy season' and the three-month July-September period as 'lean season' and has been levying enhanced freight charges during the 'busy season'. However, she pointed that during April to June 2011, the Centre had hiked and fixed the freight charges for coal by five per cent and for other products by seven per cent.
The chief minister said from October 2011 to June 2012, the freight charges for all products were hiked by 10 per cent and from October 2012 to June 2013, the Centre had hiked freight charges for food grains and chemical fertilisers by 10 per cent each and for other products by 12 per cent for the 'busy season'.
“Since all the months are the same as far as the railway freight transport was concerned, it was unjustified to artificially classify it as busy season from October to June and lean season from July to September,” said Jayalalithaa.
