On a day Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri reiterated that he has not received any proposal from the AAP Government to make metro travel free for women passengers, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said his Government will go ahead with its decision to give women free metro ride “come what may” and asserted he does not need consent from the Centre to do so.
Puri categorically said the Union Government is of the view that there should not be any free ride to anyone in Delhi Metro. In a written reply to Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy in the Lok Sabha, Puri said the Centre had not received any such proposal from the Delhi Government.
Reacting to this, Kejriwal said the Delhi Metro has submitted a proposal regarding the scheme to his Government and that he was committed to provide free metro rides to women. He reiterated there is no need to send any proposal to the Central Government in this regard.
“On our request, Del Metro has submitted its proposal. In principle, their proposal is agreeable to us. However, Delhi Govt is studying its details. I repeat that, as announced, Delhi Govt is committed to provide free metro rides to women,” Kejriwal tweeted.
“We don’t need to send any proposal to the Central Government. Delhi Government has decided to make metro travel for women free by giving subsidy for the same. We legally don’t need to send proposal to the Central Government. We wrote to the DMRC to send a proposal to us. We in-principal agree to the proposal sent by the metro to us. Delhi Metro is ready. We are also ready,” he said.
“I, the Chief Minister of Delhi, assure the people of Delhi, the women of Delhi that the metro rides would be free for women. Have faith in your Chief Minister,” said Kejriwal while interacting with the media after meeting the Union Finance Minister on Thursday.
Nagendra Sharma, media adviser to Kejriwal, said providing free rides to women is the proposal of the Delhi Government and it will bear the cost by paying directly to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
“It is a Delhi Government proposal and the Delhi Government will bear the cost and paying directly to the DMRC. TMC MP’s Q was whether the Centre has any proposal! Please do not be confused,” he tweeted.
The AAP Government had earlier this month announced that women would get to ride the Delhi Metro and DTC buses free of cost.