The Railway Ministry has come up with a bizarre clarification to justify the hike in prices of platform tickets.
The Railways Ministry has said that hike in platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 30 is “aimed at preventing crowding during coronavirus pandemic”.
The Railway Ministry said that the increase in price of the platform ticket is a “temporary measure”.
“It is a field activity undertaken by railway administration in the interest of safety of passengers and to prevent overcrowding at stations,” the Railways added.
“This is in practice for many years and is used occasionally as a short term crowd control measure,” the Railway Ministry further said.
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The Indian Railways decided to hike the platform tickets to avoid “unnecessary crowding at the platforms”.
“Rush at the platforms during pandemic situation also needs to be regulated. The exercise is in public interest only,” the railway ministry added.
In February too, the ministry had hiked the ticket fares of short-distance passenger trains to discourage people from “unnecessary travel”.