Hyderabad: Union minister for urban development and parliamentary affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday justified the hike in railway fares stating that it was essential to maintain the financial health of the largest transport network in the world.
Criticising the Congress for making a hue and cry over the hike, Mr Venkaiah reminded them that the decision was taken by the previous UPA government and the file related to the hike was initiated in February this year.
Releasing documents pertaining to the decision of the UPA to hike fares, Mr Venkaiah said the policy paralysis in the UPA government on key issues had damaged the economy. He said the fare hike was intended to strengthen the railways to take up number of new lines and trains.
Regarding the circular issued by Central government to use Hindi on all social media, Mr Venkaiah said the orders were issued by previous UPA government. He released relevant documents issued by the Union home ministry in this regard and said, “It was quite strange to hear former finance minister Chidambaram criticising us on this. It seems he quietly ignored the fact that the circular was issued by their own government.”
In a separate media conference, Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya criticised the AP government’s decision to snap the agreements with four discoms as unilateral and alleged that it was intended to push the Telangana government into a power crisis.
Mr Dattatreya demanded AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to immediately restore the PPAs as the AP Bifurcation Act protected the continuance of PPAs for 10 years.
“I did not expect such a decision from Mr Chandrababu Naidu who has been stating that Telangana and AP are like his two eyes and he treats them equally. His decision to scrap the PPAs was undemocratic and unilateral,” Mr Dattatreya said.
He said Union power minister Piyush Goel was informed about the AP government’s decision and requested him to intervene in the matter and resolve the issue amicably among both the Chief Ministers.
The Secunderabad MP also said he requested the minister to grant 500 MW power to Telangana from the unallocated quota.
of the Central government to tide over power crisis.
