Indian Railway Board’s Chairman V K Tripathi, who was in Mumbai on Sunday, said the fares of AC locals won’t be reduced anymore, as further reduction would be akin to freebies. He added that such a move will lead the railways to collapse like the Sri Lankan economy. Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve on Friday announced slashing of single-journey ticket fares for air-conditioned local trains in Mumbai by 50 per cent.

Tripathi, while addressing a press conference on Sunday, was asked if there was any plan to reduce prices of season ticket fares, too. “Mumbaikars usually have the paying capacity. I would like to mention that we will have to change our outlook as a society. We will have to remove from our minds to want every service for free. Look at what happened to Sri Lanka. Every service has a fee and it needs to be recycled so that the money can be put back into the system. We cannot have things for free,” he replied.