The Delhi Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution to oppose the proposed fare hike by the Delhi Metro with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, alleging that it was a “conspiracy” to benefit private cab companies.
The resolution, moved by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, was passed by a voice vote in the House even as the Session was extended by another day for the second time following a ruckus by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs. The AAP MLAs demanded a discussion on a website report that claimed the fortunes of a firm owned by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah’s son Jay Amit Shah had increased substantially since the party rose to power in 2014.
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‘Premium transport’
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Without naming the BJP-led Centre, Mr. Sisodia said there was an attempt to make the Delhi Metro a “premium public transport” but the AAP government would not allow it.
During a discussion on the resolution, Mr. Sisodia said, “The Metro is being run by the money of the people who don’t want fares to be increased. A conspiracy is being hatched so that Ola and Uber benefit. This is being done deliberately so that fares of the Metro are more than that of taxis of private companies.”
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Pollution levels
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He further argued that if metro fares were expensive, people would shift to cabs, resulting in an increase in the pollution levels in Delhi.
The AAP has been opposing the proposed metro fare hike, scheduled to be effective from Tuesday. On Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had offered to take over the metro if the Centres agreed.
Exposing truth
A day later, Mr. Sisodia said, “We will soon expose the truth behind the conspiracy. The DMRC is not a soap company. Instead, it has been set up by people’s money.”
He further claimed that if the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had used its property efficiently, there would not have been any need for increasing the fares for the second time this year. The last fare hike was in May this year.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel has also written to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to stop the fare hike in the larger public interest, even as Mr. Sisodia vowed to make the Metro “profitable and efficient” if the DMRC is taken over by the government.
During the discussion, Mr. Gahlot said the DMRC had “failed” to earn revenues through its property development despite the fact that it has properties in several prime locations in the Capital.
“From 2006 to 2017, the Metro has earned only ₹413 crore from property development. If they [the Metro] use their property efficiently, there would be no need to increase the hike,” Mr. Gahlot said.
Hitting out at the Delhi government over the issue, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the AAP dispensation was not serious about the people’s concern.
“There are five nominees of the Delhi government in the DMRC board. Why did they allow the board to increase Metro fares? The government is not serious on this issue,” Mr. Gupta alleged.
House adjourned
Meanwhile, AAP legislators trooped down to the Well of the House raising their demand for a discussion on the issue forcing, Mr. Goel to adjourn the House for 15 minutes. After the House resumed, the AAP MLAs refused to relent despite the Speaker’s request to go return to their seats following his announcement that the Session would be extended by a day.
The House will sit at 11 a.m. on Tuesday instead of 2 p.m. On Tuesday, the Speaker is expected to read out a communication from Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal regarding withdrawal of powers of department-related standing committees (DRSC) of the House, but there is a possibility that the AAP MLAs would once again raise the issue involving the BJP chief’s son.