Delhi Metro fare hike row: AAP govt orders emergency DMRC board meet, says move will impact ridership

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday directed the chief secretary, who is a member of the DMRC board, to initiate action to convene an emergency meeting of the body over the proposed metro fare hike. [caption id=“attachment_4101401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Delhi metro. PTI[/caption] In a statement, the Delhi government said that another fare hike, within five months of the previous one, will act as a burden on commuters and bring down ridership. It claimed that metro ridership has come down five percent each in June and August, compared to the corresponding periods in 2016 and 2015, due to the first round of the fare hike, which came into effect in May. The 16-member Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Board has three Delhi government representatives: the chief secretary, principal secretary (finance) and the transport secretary. “The chief minister directed the chief secretary to apprise the DMRC board about the notice for convening an emergency DMRC board meeting, on the demand of the Delhi government,” the statement said. The decision was taken in a meeting convened by the chief minister and attended by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, transport minister Kailash Gehlot, chief secretary MM Kutty, principal secretary (finance) SN Sahai, transport commissioner Varsha Joshi and other senior officials. DMRC’s own data shows that the fare hike in May resulted in a decrease in ridership by five percent in the month of June 2017, while in the same month in the last two years the ridership had gone up by eight and nine percent respectively. “Further in the month of August this year, the metro ridership showed a decrease of five percent as compared to an increase of 8 percent in the month of August for the previous two years,” it said. If the hike is effected, the fares will go up by a maximum of Rs 10. The existing fare structure is: up to 2 kms — Rs 10, 2-5 kms — Rs 15, 5-12 kms — Rs 20, 12-21 kms — Rs 30, 21-32 kms — Rs 40 and for journeys beyond 32 kms — Rs 50. From 10 October, for a distance of up to two kilometres, the fare will remain Rs 10, but for a distance between two and five kilometres, it will go up from Rs 15 to Rs 20. For the subsequent slabs, it will go up by Rs 10 each, which means the maximum fare will be Rs 60.