Former Delhi Metro chief E. Sreedharan, popularly called Metro Man, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to “not agree” with the Delhi government's proposal for giving women commuters free rides.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has recently announced its decision to allow free rides to women passengers on buses and Metro trains. With the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation being an equal partnership between the Delhi government and the Centre, Mr. Sreedharan, currently a principal advisor to the DMRC, said that the Prime Minister's “personal intervention” was required in the matter.
In his letter to the Prime Minister on June 10, a copy of which was accessed by The Hindu Mr. Sreedharan wrote: “One shareholder cannot take a unilateral decision to give concession to one section of community and push Delhi Metro in to inefficiency and bankruptcy.”
Having been instrumental in setting up the Delhi Metro, Mr. Sreedharan stepped down as managing director in 2011. He wrote that he had decided not to intervene in the working of the Delhi Metro, but the Delhi government's decision has forced him to come forward.
E. Sreedharan's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Sir, when the first section of the Delhi Metro was to be opened, I had taken a firm and conscious decision that no one would be given any travel concession on Delhi Metro. This stand was taken to maximize revenues so that Metro fares could be kept low so as to be affordable to ordinary citizens and at the same time Metro would make sufficient operational surpluses to pay back the loans taken from JAICA,” Mr. Sreedharan wrote.
He recalled that the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also bought a ticket for himself when he went to inaugurate the first section of the Metro on December 23, 2002.
“Now, if ladies are to be given free travel concession in Delhi Metro, it would set an alarming precendence to all other Metros in the country. The argument of Delhi Govt that the revenue losses would be reimbursed to DMRC is a poor solace. The amount involved in about 1,000 crores per annum today. This will go on increasing as the Metro network expands and with further fare hikes on the Metro,” he wrote.