The Delhi Assembly on Monday passed a unanimous resolution against the proposed Metro fare hike set to come in force from Tuesday. The Assembly witnessed a heated discussion as the Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the Centre of favouring private aggregators such as Ola and Uber by increasing the fare of Delhi Metro. Sisodia was responding to the arguments made by the leader of Opposition (loP) Vijender Gupta about operational losses of Delhi Metro.
“Metro fares are being increased so that cab aggregators Ola and Uber will be cheaper and people would give up using Metro,” Siodia retorted. The Deputy Chief Minister, during a discussion on the resolution, said, “The (Delhi) Metro is being run by the money of people who don’t want fares to be increased.” “Conspiracy is being hatched so that Ola and Uber companies will be benefited. This is being deliberately done so that the fares of Metro are more than that of taxis of private companies,” Sisodia told the House.
Speaking in the Assembly, the Deputy Chief Minister argued people would shift to Ola and Uber if Metro fares became expensive. It would also result in more taxis playing on Delhi roads, resulting in an increase in the pollution levels in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government has been opposing the proposed Metro fare hike scheduled to be effective from Tuesday.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had offered to take over the Metro if the Centres agrees. Kejriwal has written a letter to Union Housing Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri in this regard.
Continuing his arguments, Sisodia said, “We will soon expose the truth behind the conspiracy. DMRC is not a soap company, instead it has been set up by people’s money.” he said. The Deputy Chief Minister claimed that if the Delhi Metro had used its property efficiently, there would not have been any need for increasing the fares for the second time. The last fare hike was in May this year.
It would be pertinent to mention here that Arvind Kejriwal Government has taken on the management of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation over the proposed hike to be enforced from October 10 — the second this year. The last hike was effected in May.
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot moved a resolution in the Assembly against the metro fare hike and urged the Union Urban Development Ministry to “quickly and actively intervene” so that the proposed “unlawful and anti-people fare hike” be reversed in the interest of common people and the environment.
During the discussion, Transport Minister Gahlot hit out at the DMRC and accused it of failing to earn revenues through its property development despite the fact that it has properties in several prime locations in the national Capital.
“From 2006 to 2017, the Metro has earned only Rs 413 crore from the property development. If they (Metro) would use their property efficiently, there would be no need to increase the hike,” the Minister said.
If the hike is effected, the fares will go up by a maximum of Rs 10. The existing fare structure is, up to 2 km — Rs 10, 2-5 km — Rs 15, 5-12 kms — Rs 20, 12-21 kms — Rs 30, 21-32 kms — Rs 40 and for journeys beyond 32 kms — Rs 50.
From October 10, for a distance of up to two kilometres, the fare will remain Rs 10, but for a distance between two and five kilometres, it will go up from Rs 15 to Rs 20. For the subsequent slabs, it will go up by Rs 10 each, which means the maximum fare will be Rs 60.
Earlier, the lOP questioned the AAP dispensation and alleged that it was not serious about the people’s concern. “There are five nominees of the Delhi Government in the DMRC board. Why did they allow the board to increase fares of MetroIJ The Government is not serious on this issue,” Gupta alleged.