India’s Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi, has resigned following protests from his own party against his decision to increase fares across India’s rail network.
The Minister announced his budget last week which included plans to increase fares ‘across the board’ from Rs. 0.02 to Rs. 0.30 per kilometer.
The announcement prompted protests from members of his Trinamul Congress party, who wanted him to cancel the fare increase, which he refused to do.
He blamed the fare increase, the first in eight years, on the jump in fuel prices.
Mr Trivedi stepped down on Sunday evening.
He said that his party had been ‘instrumental’ in his role as minister and accepted that he ‘must obey the party’s discipline’.
