A day before the inauguration of Mumbai’s very first Metro-rail, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan got into a major confrontation with the Anil Ambani-led Mumbai Metro One Private Ltd (MMOPL) over fare hike.
The MMOPL had signed an agreement fixing the fare slabs at Rs. 9, Rs. 11 and Rs. 13. It later changed them to the rates Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 30 and Rs. 40. The State government has gone to court against the fare increase and has also sent a notice to the Reliance Group.
“I will fight for the rights of the people of Mumbai. Fares can only be revised after approaching the fare revision committee. Now the matter is in court and they will have to follow court directives. For the moment they have agreed to keep the fares at Rs. 10. So we will go ahead with the inauguration,” Mr. Chavan told The Hindu on Saturday night.
The MMOPL said it will offer a promotional rate of Rs. 10 for a commute between the first 12 stations for the first month. “After that we will see the usage of the Metro and increase the rates accordingly,” said Abhay Mishra, CEO of MMOPL.
The inaugural stretch of the Mumbai Metro will cover 11.4 km between Versova and Ghatkopar, connecting the eastern and western suburbs. The project had begun seven years ago. The MMOPL is special purpose vehicle in which Reliance Infrastructure has the majority stake but the government’s MMRDA also has a 26 per cent holding.
The MMOPL said it was forced to increase fares as a result of inflation. “When the rates were fixed, the operating cost for 2014 was projected at Rs. 100 crore. Now it has gone up to Rs. 240 crore,” said Debashish Mohanty, spokesperson of the Reliance Group. He said that they had the authority to fix the fares as per the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002.
Mr. Chavan accused the BJP of helping the Reliance Group increase the tariff by pushing for the Metro’s inauguration, charges the party denied. “Why is he blaming us? He could not bring necessary permissions from the Centre during the UPA regime. We brought them in eight days. He is scared of losing credit,” said senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde.
(With additional reporting from Alok Deshpande)
