Government had to hike railway fares as maintenance of public services comes at a cost, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said on Thursday.
"The maintenance of standards in public services comes at a cost.
"That cost has to be defrayed in a Public Private partnership," Tewari
On Wednesday, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced an across-the-board hike in fares of all classes from midnight of January 21 to net an additional Rs 6,600 crore (Rs 66 billion) a year.
The announcement, which was a made only about a month ahead of the Railway budget, is the first such increase in Railway fares in nearly a decade.
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