The Union government will soon recommend that Metro rail networks offer concessional fares to students and senior citizens, Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Replying to a question, he said: “The question was asked whether we are doing it. It is not our task to do this but we would be happy to make that recommendation. Whenever the next Fare Fixation Committee is established, we would be happy to make that recommendation.”
Mr. Puri said the Fare Fixation Committee, a statutory body headed by a judge, had examined the issue of concessional fares for Delhi Metro, but found that the network was not “technologically ready.”
Responding to a point about Calcutta Metro offering concessional rates to different sections, he said the difference lay in the way the Metro systems were operated through tokens and smart cards. “When you enter a metro complex, there is a metro gate through which you come through. It is my view, after having studied this issue for about three months or so, that it should be possible for the government to recommend concessional fares for senior citizens and students, but the fixation of the fares are not done by the government,” he said.
The issue of metro fare increase has been a politically sensitive issue in Delhi. When Delhi Metro effected a fare hike based on the recommendations of the Fare Fixation Committee, the Arvind Kejriwal-led government strongly opposed it In a tweet last September, the Delhi Chief Minister said, “Metro fare hike is an anti-people move.”
However, on Tuesday, Mr. Puri countered such a view. “Madam Speaker, it was great wisdom that the fare fixation structure of the Metro was insulated from the competitive and populist politics which governments can succumb to," he said.
