19.03.2012
India's railway minister quit on Sunday after he raised fares on the vast but creaking network, underscoring the government's inability to take unpopular policy steps and adding to speculation the unsteady ruling coalition will fall apart.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's decision to resign, and the fare rollback that is likely to come, follows a pattern in recent months of India's leaders announcing economic reform but being too weak to enforce it.
Trivedi announced the first increase in passenger fares in eight years on Wednesday, a move aimed at shoring up a network whose dysfunction has become a major drag on the economy.
That news cheered investors but prompted a furious response from Trivedi's own party, a powerful regional ally of the ruling Congress party that has stood in the way of economic reform in the past.
"I'm a loyal soldier of the party," Trivedi said, of his decision to resign. "I'm worried about (passenger) safety. I did what I did because of the safety."
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