Delhi Assembly passes resolution for withholding Metro fare hike

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Monday passed a resolution seeking withholding of the proposed Metro fare hike set to come in force from Tuesday.

Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel also wrote to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, urging him to withhold the hike, citing the resolution.

The Aam Aadmi Party government has locked horns with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation over the proposed hike to be enforced from October 10 - the second this year. The last hike was effected in May.

The resolution moved on Wednesday by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot urged the Union Urban Development Ministry to "quickly and actively intervene" so that the proposed "unlawful and anti-people fare hike" be reversed in the interest of common people and the environment.

"Calls upon all the stakeholders to stop forthwith the implementation of the proposed fare hike by DMRC," the resolution reads.

On Monday, participating in the discussion on the resolution, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Metro fares are being increased as "a conspiracy" so that cab aggregators Ola and Uber will be cheaper and people would give up using Metro.

Gahlot said that Delhi Metro was not made to be a world-class profitable venture but it'll be world class when people leave their vehicles and use it.

Other members of the ruling AAP said that they won't allow the fares to go up and they will protest if fares are hiked.

While BJP member Jagdish Pradhan said that fares should be low, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, of the BJP, said that the recommendation to increase fares was binding.

The DMRC was formed in 1995 with equal equity participation of the central government and the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had asked Gahlot to find a way to stop the "anti-people" fare hike.

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.

On Friday, the central government informed Kejriwal that it cannot put on hold the proposed hike unless his government gives about Rs 3,000 crore annually to DMRC as grant-in-aid for the next five years. In response, Kejriwal said that his government was ready to pay Rs 1,500 crore a year, if the centre was ready to fund the other half.

He also said that the Delhi goverment was ready to take over the DMRC.