Rail Budget passed by Parliament after roll back of fare hike

New Delhi: Parliament on Thursday passed the Rail Budget 2012-13 after the government announced a roll back of hike in passenger fares for all classes except AC 2 Tier and First Class.

The budget and related appropriation bills were first passed by the Lok Sabha unanimously and later returned by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote.

New Railway Minister Mukul Roy, who was inducted into the Union Cabinet and the Railway Ministry on Tuesday, announced in both Houses of Parliament the roll back of the fare increase for second class suburban and non-suburban, Sleeper, AC Chair Car and AC 3-tier, dubbing it as a "huge drain" on the pocket of masses.

Roy, however, left untouched the increase of 15 paise per km and 30 paise per km respectively in passenger fares in AC 2-tier and AC-I announced by Trivedi in the Railway Budget only last week.