Is this a coincidence? If yes then it happens in India all the time. The Union minister for Railways Lalu Prasad has planned to organize a massive ‘Chetawani Rally’ in Bihar on 28 October and his party has planned to hire 34 special trains for the rally. Just ahead of the planned rally of RJD, that Railway ministry has decided to reduce the hiring rates of the special trains to one third of the previous charges.

Railway minister Lalu Prasad, the union railway minister, also happens to be the RJD chief. Indian Express has reported the story by saying as:

If you plan to run 34-odd special trains to ferry your party supporters for a political rally in your home state, it helps if you happen to be the Railway minister.

If this is a coincidence, it may be called as the greatest in recent times. The IE has reported that just before the Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Chetawani Rally scheduled to be organized on October 28 in Patna, the railway ministry has decided to cut down the hiring charges for special trains.

The reduction of the charges would be applicable for the special trains running between October 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008. However, this six-month period is said to be termed as ‘ Second Peak Season’ by the ministry of railways. The first ‘Peak Season’ comes between April 1-June 30.

According to the report, the railway ministry takes the detention charges of Rs 900 per hour per coach and 75% of the Full Tariff Rate (FTR) as empty haulage charges on the hiring of special trains and coaches. Now, the ministry has decided to cut down the charges to Rs 300 as detention charges and 50% of FTR respectively.

The report says further the railway ministry may hike the charges two days before the rally; however, the ministry has released a circular on September 28 regarding the hikes and the urgency to implement with immediate effect.

Now, if the RJD would hire a single 18-coach train for 24 hours, the party would have to pay Rs 1.29 lakhs against the previous charge of Rs 3.8 lakh. RJD has planned to hire 34 special trains and according to the new charges, the party would pay one third of the previous charges, Rs 44 lakh against Rs 1.32 crore.

The railway officials have called it as mere coincidence. Railway ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena said that after discussion on this matter in Parliament, the railway ministry decided to review the charges after every six months.

According to him, the Railways would review these charges every six months from now. The reduction of charges is good but the timing of the implementation of the new scheme and the ‘Chetawani Rally’ of Railway minister gives a clear indication that this is a real example of coincidence.

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