Nitish Kumar trashes railway budget

"I was fully disappointed by the railway budget presented by Railway Minister Pawan Bansal. He (Bansal) claimed that there was no proposal for fresh hike of passenger fares but his budget proposed hike of several charges, including reservation to cancellation of tickets," said Nitish Kumar, a former railway minister.u00a0

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

He said the railway minister used back-door route to increase burden on passengers. "Railway minister hiked passenger fares in January before the budget. Now he is saying that there was no hike of passenger fares," he said.

Kumar added that the railway minister lacked will power to say truth and admit reality. He said that during his tenure as railway minister during the NDA rule, he had set up a corporate safety fund and a corporate safety plan for a 10-year period of 2003-13.