Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 18 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to revert the old Railway fare in the Katwa - Azimganj section of Howrah Division of Eastern Railway which was increased from Rs 10 to Rs 30 during the pandemic period.
"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the population of Murshidabad district and its surroundings are very poor. They can hardly afford tickets at higher rates, since most of them are daily wage earners belonging to the BPL category and they need to travel from home to their place of work every day," West Bengal CM said in her letter.
She further said that the Eastern Railway Authorities has not taken any action despite many appeals by the Passengers Association.
"It is very unfortunate that the Passengers Association which represents poor passengers of that section had preferred many appeals to the Eastern Railway Authorities on various occasions, but it seems that so far no action has been taken to give relief to the poor people of the area," she added.
She further mentioned the Railway Budget for the year 2009-10 presented by her when she was the Union Minister and had announced the scheme "Izzat" which was later withdrawn.
"The Railway Budget for the year 2009-10 (final) presented by me as Railway Minister, I had drawn the attention of the House to the provision of concession to the very poor people, which is appended as- Every person wants to live in dignity. The journey of life also begins with dignity. A rail journey is also like a journey of life. I want every person should travel on our Railways with dignity. I, therefore, wish to present the gift of travel with dignity to even the poorest of the poor. I, therefore, announce a new scheme called 'izzat'. Under this scheme, a uniformly-priced monthly season ticket of Rs 25 would be available free of all surcharges for travel up to 100 km for members of the unorganized sector with a monthly income not exceeding Rs 1500. This will give lakhs of people in our country a chance to travel on rail with dignity. This scheme will be implemented with the cooperation of Members of Parliament," she wrote.
She also mentioned that the scheme has since been withdrawn thereby adversely affecting the poor withdrawn thereby adversely affecting the poorer section of the society.
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