Main points of Finance Minister’s speech on price hike in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, 7 July, 2014

Following are the main points of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s speech in Rajya Sabha today on the issue of price hike in railway and essential commodities:

-UPA didn’t take tough decisions when it should have. It is not possible to fill gap which Congress left in five weeks.

-Railway’s mounting losses could have led to halt in operations.

-Railways is losing to road transport on freight.

-Railway’s loss on passenger fare was Rs. 30,000 crore in February.

-Railway fare hike was recommended in interim budget.

-For any public utility to run, users must pay.

-Supply-side concerns were not addressed by UPA government.

-UPA did not take tough decisions. Storage capacity concern should have been addressed by UPA. Lack of storage facilities resulting in price hike.

-Government has ample stock of essential goods. There’s no need for panic.

-Prices of onions and potatoes rose during UPA regime. Prices of essential goods have been rising for last two years. Our government is trying to fix this problem.

-We have contained prices; Govt committed to keep them under check.