Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday dubbed as “absurd” the suggestions that Delhiites had moved on to other modes of transport like cab services or started buying expensive cars due to the recent Metro fare hike.
The comments come in the backdrop of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal having written a letter to Puri, seeking a review of the hike and reiterating his offer to partially bear the cost of the proposed “claw back“.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
‘No rolling back fares’
ADVERTISEMENT
“Desire to create false narrative on #MetroFare taking an amusing turn. It’s being suggested those who weren’t able to afford India’s cheapest metro can actually afford to buy & run expensive cars or use cabs. You don’t have to be an economist to see absurdity of this argument,” the Union minister wrote on Twitter.
Hitting out at the AAP-led Delhi government, the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister said if the metro had become an “expensive luxury liner”, the city government should increase the number of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses.
The Union minister had said neither the Centre nor the Delhi government has powers to rollback the fares and claimed that metro ridership on three different days in October this year were higher than the last year. However, an RTI query, revealed last month that the Delhi Metro lost over three lakh commuters a day after the steep fare hike.
ADVERTISEMENT