The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) student wing staged a protest outside Rajiv Chowk Metro station to denounce the Delhi Metro fare hike on Wednesday.
About 30 students from Delhi University’s Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) gathered at Gate 6 of the station and demanded a rollback of the fare hike.
Amid strong protest by AAP, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) implemented its second fare hike on Tuesday.
The revised fare structure of DMRC is: up to 2 km — Rs. 10, 2 to 5 km — Rs. 20, 5 to 12 km — Rs. 30, 12 to 21 km — Rs. 40, 21 to 32 km — Rs. 50 and for journeys beyond 32 km — Rs. 60.
The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday decided to set up a nine-member committee to look into the rationale behind the increase.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel will nominate members to the committee, which will also look into the “financial health of DMRC and other issues”.
On 7 October, the central government told Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that it cannot put on hold the proposed Metro fare hike unless state government agrees to pay nearly Rs. 3,000 crore annually to DMRC.
Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri’s letter dated October 6 was a response to a letter from Kejriwal on September 29 asking the central government to put the hike on hold. Puri in his reply to a letter to Kejriwal said that, Metro Act does not allow the central government to put on hold the fare hike.
Puri had informed in his letter, that the alternative to fare hike was to provide DMRC yearly grants-in-aid for the next five years: Rs 3,040 crore, Rs 3,616 crore, Rs 3,318 crore, Rs 3,150 crore and Rs 2,980 crore respectively.
The DMRC was formed in 1995 with equal equity participation of the central government and the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The DMRC defended its decision by saying its input costs had gone up over the years and the increase was at par with Metro rails in other cities.
The Delhi assembly will meet on Monday to discuss the proposed hike.
(With agency inputs)