Opposition parties today criticised the government's decision to hike railway fares terming it as "criminal" to burden the people with such an increase and questioned as to why Parliament was not taken into confidence before taking the step.

They questioned the relevance of taking such a decision when the budget session has already been announced and also demanded an immediate roll-back.

"After coming into government, without taking Parliament into confidence and without brining out a white paper...if they felt that the financial health of the railways was not up to the mark or without waiting for the railway budget, they have gone ahead and increased rail tariffs by 14 per cent.

"What kind of a sensitivity is this that those who till yesterday were talking about 'aam aadmi' (common man) and how his concerns should be addressed, have now started doing the opposite by imposing as much burden as they can on the so called 'aam aadmi' who voted them to power," Congress leader Manish Tewari said.