Venkaiah defends hike in railway fares

Hyderabad, June 22 : Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday strongly defended the Centre’s decision to increase railway fares.

Speaking to media persons here, Venkaiah Naidu said that the hike in railway fare was imminent. However, he said that originally the decision to increase the fares was taken way back in February by the previous UPA regime and new fares were to be implemented from the first week of May. However, the UPA did not implement the decision apparently in view of elections. He said that the NDA Government only implemented that the decision taken by previous regime.

Venkaiah Naidu hinted that Modi Government would be forced to a few more tough decisions to put the country’s economy back on track.

Similarly, he said that the decision to use Hindi language in all government businesses was taken by the UPA Government. He a circular was issued by the UPA Government on March 10 directing the States of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarkhand and Andaman and Nicobar Islands to use only Hindi language for official business. He ridiculed the criticism by the Congress party on two decisions implemented by the Modi Government.  INN