Indian Railway Minister quits

India’s minister for railways has resigned a day after he announced a nominal fare hike in his maiden budget presented in the Parliament, a local TV network said.Dinesh Trivedi sent in his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, NDTV said.The move came after Trivedi’s party chief, Mamata Banerjee - a powerful regional leader in the federal ruling coalition – said she would not allow any fare hike in the 600 billion rupee ($12bn) rail budget.The railway minister was asked to either roll back the hike or resign, but after his refusal to budge, his party chief wrote to the prime minister, calling for Trivedi to be sacked, according to the Times of India newspaper.Opposition lawmakers seized on Wednesdays fare increase to attack the Congress party-led coalition government, which is already reeling from a slew of corruption scandals and was battered in crucial state elections last week.Trivedi told parliament that the first fare increase in eight years would add as little as one rupee (two cents) for every 50km travelled on the cheapest fares.I had two very clear yet contrasting options - either to keep the railways in status quo mode with just incremental annual changes or, as the phrase goes, bite the bullet, Trivedi told parliament on Wednesday.The second option would involve going for a generational change with a focus on safety and inclusive growth to meet the aspirations of this great country in the next decade. I chose the generational change, he said.Under the new fare structure, the second-class fare on an ordinary train from New Delhi to the financial hub, Mumbai about 1,390km away, will rise 21 per cent to 260 rupees ($5.21). A first-class fare on an air-conditioned Rajdhani Express on the same route rises 14 per cent to 3,445 rupees.The passenger fare hike bucked a populist trend to help mend the finances of the mammoth public sector network that is a bottleneck for growth in Asias third-largest economy.Rail experts said Indias huge rail network was desperately in need of funds for infrastructure and safety upgrades.