The government has made it clear that there is no proposal to hike railway passenger fares at present. Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa informed this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He added that the recent hike in freight charges were marginal. The Minister said, the impact of the increased rates on the prices of the essential commodities is expected to be negligible. He said in the case of transportation of foodgrains and fertilizers, the increase per kg per 1,000 km is 5 paise and 4 paise in the case of salt and sugar.

The increase is 3 paise and 6 paise for transportation of onion and edible oils. Mr. Muniyappa said it is estimated that Railways will earn about 1,914 crore rupees during the remaining part of the current financial year from the levy of these charges.