Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, seeking withholding of the the proposed second fare hike in Delhi Metro from October 10.

In his letter, the Chief Minister said the Delhi residents were still reeling under the impact of the steep fare hike in May, and the proposed second fare hike from October 10 “will be simply unacceptable” at this time of economic distress.

“Direct the DMRC under Section 86 of the Delhi Metro Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Act 2002 to withhold any fare hike till the entire matter is reviewed jointly by the Central government and the GNCTD,” Kejriwal said in his letter to Puri.

According to the Chief Minister, DMRC had made an “erroneous” decision, as the “The Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) had recommended a gap of one year between two fare hikes. This recommendation is being violated because the proposed second hike in October 2017 will take place before even six months are over after implementation of the previous fare hike.

Kejriwal requested Puri to, therefore, direct DMRC to withhold the “unjustified” hike till its decision was jointly reviewed by the Central and Delhi governments, both of whom are equal owners of DMRC with 50:50 stake each, adding that a board meeting should be convened.

Incidentally, traffic data released by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has indicated a drop in footfalls. The total traffic in all six lines saw a rise in April 2017 against April 2016. The fare hike came into effect in May. Line 1 and line 2 saw a drop in May 2017 and June 2017 against the same period last year. Also, Line 3 and 4, and Line 5 saw a drop in June 2017 against the same period a year ago although the traffic increased in May.

Annual fare hike

The FFC has recommended that 2019 onward, the annual fare hike should take care of inflation etc., but should not exceed seven per cent per annum.

This principle is being completely overlooked in the fare hikes being planned for 2017, which put together, will exceed 80 per cent in one year alone. In several slabs, the increase will be 100 per cent, which is quite appalling. “There is no reason why the principles to be followed from 2019 onward should be completely violated in 2017,” the letter said.

The FFC has advised DMRC to improve productivity on the lines followed by Hong Kong Metro. This would significantly improve the finances of DMRC and lead to a much lower increase in fares.

Kejriwal also asked DMRC to improve efficiencies and lower costs. “No such initiatives are noticeable in the case of DMRC and their effort is to pass on all costs and inefficiencies in the form of a higher fare to be imposed on the ordinary commuters,” stated the CM.

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