The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday launched a city-wide protest against the Metro fare hike and alleged that the decision to raise tariffs was taken by the Centre to benefit cab aggregator services such as Uber and Ola.
AAP’s Delhi convenor Gopal Rai also countered the claim made by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that the fare hike was being done to cut down their losses, and said if the travel tariffs increase, this will have a direct impact on ridership. He said the AAP will launch a ‘Metro fare hike satyagraha’ to demand a rollback. They will protest outside all Metro stations on Wednesday, and will gherao the Nirman Bhawan, the office of the Union Urban Development Ministry, on Thursday.
‘Unfortunate decision’
“The Modi government’s decision to hike the fare is unfortunate. They [the UD Ministry] say that the Metro is running into losses, but this is not true. How come the losses started mounting since the last one year,” Mr. Rai questioned.
He said despite fervent efforts made by the State government to hold the fare hike, including expressing its willingness to share the operational costs, the Centre has gone ahead with the proposed hike.
“The increase in the fare is not to shore up the losses, but it appears that the main purpose is to benefit the Ola and Uber (radio cab operators). The fare hike will further congest Delhi and increase pollution,” Mr. Rai said.