The Railways Ministry on Thursday clarified about rationalisation of freight charges in the budget.
The Railway Board said the change was not a hike, but rationalisation that resulted in decrease in some sections and increase in others. It said it was wrong to say freight rates had increased by a flat 10 per cent.
“Important commodities which affect the common man, like HSD and diesel, have not been touched at all. In fact, there is net reduction. And other commodities like cement, iron and steel, raw material etc. on average are affected 0.8-2 per cent only,” it said.
As such, for distances above 1,500 km, the distance slab which earlier was of 250 km each was reduced to 125 km each. This rationalisation has reduced the rates of many commodities. The railways gave examples of coal, whose charges from Korba to Gandhi Nagar reduced by Rs. 1.09 lakh per rake and from Ghevra to Rajkot by Rs 29,000 per rake.
Similarly, there has been a reduction of Rs 4.65 lakh per rake in moving iron and steel from Bokaro to Amritsar, a reduction of Rs 5.49 lakh on moving limestone from Jaisalmer to Rourkela, Rs 4.06 lakh in moving cement from Jabalpur to Guwahati, Rs 6.26 lakh in moving diesel from Gandhidham to Jammu Tawi, and Rs 5.91 lakh in moving diesel from Baroda to New Jalpaiguri.
