Delhi Metro fare hike: CM Arvind Kejriwal says ready to pay half the funds if Centre pays the rest

In a letter to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Kejriwal said the Centre bore the entire loss of Kolkata Metro and there should be no difficulty if it provided half the funds in the case of Delhi, PTI reported. (PTI)

After the Delhi Metro proposed a major hike in fares, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal indicated that he did not support this move. In fact, he went to the extent of saying that his government would not mind taking over DMRC to make it even more efficient and indicated he would provide half the funds to bridge the gap in finances for 3 months. However, Centre should provide the other half of the funds. In a letter to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Kejriwal said the Centre bore the entire loss of Kolkata Metro and there should be no difficulty if it provided half the funds in the case of Delhi, PTI reported.

Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday had told the Delhi government that it would have to pay Rs 3,000 crore for five years if it wanted to stop the hike in the metro fares. ”As for as your suggestion regarding a grant to DMRC for meeting the gap in their operating finances, my government is willing to bear half the grant if only a matching grant is provided by the Central Government,” Kejriwal said in his letter to Puri. IANS further reported that the letter also said that an assessment should also be made of the financial gap likely to be created on account of the postponement of the second fare hike. “As you know, the central government and the Delhi government are 50-50 owners of the DMRC and its equity etc. have been shared in this proportion all along,” Kejriwal said in the letter.

Fares will go up by a maximum of Rs 10 after the latest hike comes into effect. The existing fare structure is: up to 2 kms — Rs 10, 2-5 kms — 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.