The New Nation - Internet Edition

bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The government has once again initiated a move to hike train fares, by up to 50 percent, a senior official of the communications ministry said Thursday.

Bangladesh Rail has not raised its fares since 1992.

Railway officials say they have already sent a set of proposals on fare hikes of passenger and goods trains to an inter-ministerial committee, headed by a joint-secretary (Railway) at the ministry.

The concerned officials in their report have proposed the committee, recommending the government to go for 50 percent hike in fares for all passenger trains and 30 percent for cargo trains.

They have also suggested increasing charges for parcel services by 50 percent.

An inter-ministerial committee, formed early this year by the communications ministry, will now discuss the railway's proposals and recommend necessary actions.

"We have asked the railway to prepare a set of recommendations on raising train fares," Naim Ahmed Khan, chief of the inter-ministerial committee, told bdnews24.com Thursday.

Khan, a joint-secretary of the communications ministry, said: "We will discuss the railway's proposals and forward our opinion to the highest level through the ministry for the next course of actions."

The government, earlier this year, initiated a move to increase train fares. Considering the sensitivity of the issue, the government formed the inter-ministerial committee to make recommendations.

The committee suggested not hiking fares "at this moment".

It then formed a three-member sub-committee, headed by Mohammad Shahjahan, joint director general of the railway, for further proposals on fare hikes.

"It is up to the government to decide on train fare hikes. We can only give our opinion on the issue," Shahjahan told bdnews24.com at his office Thursday.

But, he pointed out, there had been no raise in fares since 1992.

"A passenger can travel from Dhaka to Chittagong by a mail train spending just Tk 72, but the buses on the same route charge minimum Tk 300," said Shahjahan.

According to the government's latest available figures, the railway incurred a loss of Tk 6.04 billion in 2007-08. It earned Tk 5.72 billion against expenditures of Tk 11.76 billion.

"In our proposals, we have said the government should increase fares for passenger trains by 50 percent which we think 'tolerable'," another member of the sub-committee told bdnews24.com Thursday.

"If the government increases the fare of passenger trains by 50 percent, the railway would be able to earn between Tk 120 crore and Tk 130 crore more annually," he said.

He said the sub-committee proposed a 30 percent fare hike for cargo trains as the railway used to carry 'small quantity' of goods.

Raising of train fares in Bangladesh is a politically sensitive issue. The state-owned entity's annual losses have been mounting every year.

The loss in 1992 was over Tk 200 core. It now stands above Tk 600 crore annually.