Tejasvi Surya meets Union Minister Khattar over Metro fare hike

Bengaluru, Feb 5 (IANS) BJP National Youth President and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on Thursday met Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar and submitted a memorandum criticising the Congress-led Karnataka government’s decision to hike Bengaluru Metro fares, while demanding the reconstitution of the Fare Fixation Committee for the city’s Metro network. 

Taking to social media, Surya stated, “Karnataka’s Congress-led state government has pushed through a steep Metro fare hike from February 9, ignoring widespread public opposition and placing an undue burden on commuters.”

“Met the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar today to apprise him of the issue and sought the reconstitution of the Fare Fixation Committee. Highlighted multiple anomalies in fare calculations placed before the Committee, including errors in the base year used, which have resulted in commuters being overcharged and the highest fare being raised to Rs 95,” he said.

“The state government must not be allowed to proceed with this flawed fare revision. I requested that the annual fare hike be kept on hold and, if required, that a new Fare Fixation Committee be constituted to rationalise fares in the public interest,” Surya said.

“The Hon’ble Minister assured that the matter will be considered positively,” he added.

The memorandum stated that the 2025 Fare Fixation Committee for Bengaluru Metro, constituted under Section 34 of the Metro Railway Operations and Maintenance Act, 2002, recommended a fare revision effective from February 9 for Namma Metro.

“This revision, ostensibly calculated on the basis of the 2016 DMRC Fare Fixation Committee’s formula, has resulted in an average increase of fares by 50 per cent and raised the maximum fare from Rs 60 to Rs 90. This has also made Bengaluru Metro the most expensive in the country,” it said.

However, a perusal of the FFC report reveals multiple arithmetic errors in the revised fare calculations.

These errors arise mainly due to the selection of the wrong base year of 2016-17 for the computation of operating costs, resulting in a deviation from the standard fare revision methodology.

Even though these errors have been flagged multiple times and in in-person meetings, the BMRCL is yet to correct the anomalies.

As a result, commuters continue to be overcharged for their Metro travel, Surya said.

“I request that a new Fare Fixation Committee be constituted for Bengaluru Metro to rectify anomalies and rationalise the fares. I also request that the annual hike be put on hold until the fares are rationalised,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on Thursday officially hiked fares by five per cent, with the revised rates set to come into effect from February 9.

In a statement, the BMRCL said, “BMRCL emphasises that this small annual revision is intended to ensure financial sustainability and service reliability, while avoiding the need for large and sudden fare increases in the future.

“The approach allows fares to move gradually in line with inflation and operating costs, thereby protecting commuters from sharp, infrequent hikes,” it added.

--IANS

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