Delhi metro fare hike: Equal stake for Centre, state government in DMRC a 'facade,' says Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Delhi government and Centre’s equal stake in the city metro was a “facade” meant for obtaining “large” amounts of funding from the former, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday  wrote to union urban affairs development minister Hardeep Singh Puri. [caption id=“attachment_2755872” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] Kejriwal, whose strident opposition against the metro fare hike came to a naught recently when the DMRC board cleared it, also urged Puri to form an “independent expert group” acceptable to both centre and state to review all the thorny issues concerning the metro. “This entire episode demonstrates that while the Delhi government and Central government are equal partners in the DMRC, the Delhi Government has virtually no say in its management,” Kejriwal wrote. “DMRC is in no way accountable to the Delhi government, nor does it pay any heed to our directions. Evidently the said partnership is only a facade that is being used for obtaining large contributions of funding from the Delhi Government,” he added. Referring to Puri’s contention that metro’s operational losses must be borne “solely by the Delhi government”, Kejriwal said it only establishes the “absurdity” of the prevailing arrangements. “We are not opposed to fare revisions per se. But fare hikes be allowed only to the extent necessary since they affect a vast majority of our people,” he added.