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Diesel price hike may raise rail fare by 2-3%

[email protected] (TNN)
March 24, 2013

Diesel_price_hike

New Delhi, Mar 24: Passengers have been spared an immediate hike in rail fares, but a sustained spike in diesel price may prompt railways make travel more expensive over the next six months.

"There is a policy now and the fuel adjustment component (FAC) is linked with energy and fuel prices and calculated accordingly ... We insulated passenger segment from the FAC in April as we did not feel it was appropriate considering there was a fare hike in January only. Railways had to absorb Rs 800 crore on account of this," railway board chairman Vinay Mittal told a press conference on Saturday.

Given the recent hike in diesel prices, the fares may go up by another 2-3% if FAC is linked to the basic fare. Hike in fares would be politically sensitive given the looming assembly polls in Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

An increase would impact over two crore daily passengers.

In line with the new policy, the government proposes to review FAC twice a year. FAC is the variable component in rail fares and freight rates which will move based on changes in diesel and electricity rates.

Besides diesel, the cost of power has also gone up in recent months, increasing the burden on railways.

In fact, a large part of the gain from the January hike, which was expected to net Rs 6,600 crore, has been wiped out because of increase in fuel prices.

And, the state transporter could only make an additional Rs 3,000 crore. Diesel prices have increased by Rs 10.80 per litre in the past few months.

An increase in fares is, however, not going to wipe out losses of around Rs 24,000 crore that railway incurs on passenger services as the segment is cross-subsidized by freight and more than half the expenses for the state transporter is pension and wage bill, which is pegged to inflation and could rise up to 10% given the current trend consumer price inflation.

Railways had gone for passenger fare hike across the board from January 22. In the last three months, it could earn additional revenue of Rs 1,200 crore.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 6 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that Congress is known for adopting a soft Hindutva agenda and that there was nothing new in the remarks of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi on Ayodhya temple construction.

"I am not surprised regarding, Priyanka Gandhi's remark on Ayodhya. From Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, Congress had followed a similar stance. I don't think Congress has any stand when it comes to secularism. 

If it was the case, then our country would not have reached such a level," the chief minister said when asked about the 'Bhumi Pujan' ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday.

"There is nothing new on Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi's position on the issue. They are following the Congress' soft Hindutva agenda. There is no element of surprise," Vijayan said.

Further, Vijayan said that CPI(M) Politburo had made clear the party's viewpoint on the Ayodhya temple construction.

"When it comes to Ayodhya issue. I want to ask who had allowed worship there. It was Congress. Who had allowed to lay the idol there? It was Congress. 

Who gave permission to Karseva? It was Congress. Even when it came to demolition of Babri Masjid too who shut their eyes and gave a silent nod for it- wasn't it the Congress regime at the centre? And Muslim League (IUML) was part of it. These are all part of our history," said Kerala Chief Minister.

He said instead of involving in discussions on it, more time should be utilised towards containing the COVID-19 spread in the country and helping the poor who are suffering due to the pandemic.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Mumbai, Jan 19: After Kerala and Punjab, the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government is also mulling over a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in Maharashtra Assembly.

Speaking to news agency, Congress spokesperson Raju Waghmare said: "Our senior party leader Balasaheb Thorat has also shared his stand on the CAA. Even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that we are against the CAA. As far as the resolution against CAA is concerned, our senior leaders of MVA will sit together and decide."

If this happens, then Maharashtra will be the third state to pass a resolution against CAA, which grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Emphasising that CAA is 'unconstitutional,' senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal has said that every state Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek CAA's withdrawal.

He added that it would be problematic to oppose the CAA if the law is declared to be 'constitutional' by the Supreme Court.

"I believe the CAA is unconstitutional. Every State Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek its withdrawal. When and if the law is declared to be constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it. The fight must go on!" Sibal tweeted.

Earlier speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival on Saturday, the Congress leader had said that constitutionally no state can say that it will not implement the amended Citizenship Act, as doing so will be "unconstitutional".

Kerala government has also approached the Supreme Court against the CAA following the passage of a resolution against it in the state Assembly.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has also announced that the Congress state government is going to join Kerala in the Supreme Court in the case.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

New Delhi, May 17: With the highest-ever spike of close to 5,000 cases in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 count in India has crossed 90,000 on Sunday.

With an increase of 4,987 COVID-19 cases being reported in the last 24 hours, the count has reached 90,927, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of active cases in the country stands at 53,946 today, while 2,872 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far, with one patient having migrated. 120 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

However, on the positive side, close to 4,000 patients have also been cured and discharged in the past 24 hours, taking the tally of cured patients to 34,108.

With 30,706 confirmed cases, Maharashtra remains the worst-affected by the infection in the country.

It is followed by Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, with 10,988 and 10,585 cases, respectively.
The national capital, with 9,333 cases, is also one of the regions which is badly affected by the infection.

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