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New Delhi - Angry demonstrators have blocked railway tracks and burned effigies of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protest a steep hike in train fares, seen as the government's first tough step towards reforming a sluggish economy.
Modi's government, which came to power a month ago after overthrowing the ruling Congress, has pledged to revive the economy after it grew at just 4.7% last year -- the lowest in nearly a decade.
The hike is seen as the first dose of the "bitter medicine" that Modi recently warned was needed to revive the economy, Asia's third-biggest.
In northern Uttar Pradesh state, scores of flag-waving protesters blocked railway tracks in Allahabad city, forcing the Ganga-Gomti passenger train to halt.
And in the capital New Delhi, hundreds of supporters of the opposition Congress party set fire to an effigy of Modi before police fired water cannon to disperse the crowd.
Financial crunch
"It is a massive hike. If they continue to take steps like this, I am sure people of the country will punish the government," Arvinder Singh Lovely, a Congress leader, told reporters.
Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said he was "forced" to take the step in order "to meet all the necessary expenditure", hinting at the financial crunch the state-controlled network is facing.
The Indian railway system, one of the world's largest, is still the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country. But years of financial neglect and populist policy of subsidising fares have hit the network hard.
