Delhi Metro suffers a huge loss due to COVID-19 pandemic! A loss of Rs 1,609 crore has been suffered by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) due to the closure of Delhi Metro services in view of the coronavirus outbreak. The announcement was made by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently. The minister was quoted in a PTI report saying besides DMRC, Kochi Metro, Chennai Metro, Bangalore Metro and Lucknow Metro also incurred losses due to the pandemic. To contain the spread of novel coronavirus, metro services across the country were suspended on 22 March 2020. On 7 September, the metro services were resumed in a phased manner and on 12 September, full-fledged normal operations were resumed.
During the nationwide lockdown period, the DMRC had carried out preparatory works such as preparation of tender schedule, detailed designing, finalization of tenders, among other things, Puri said. He further stated that it was informed by Delhi Metro that payments towards its loan have been made as per schedule. Due to COVID-19, other metro networks across the country like the Bangalore Metro network, Chennai Metro network, Lucknow Metro, and Kochi Metro rail network also suffered losses of Rs 170 crore, Rs 80 crore, Rs 90 crore and a loss of Rs 34.18 crore respectively.
While responding to another query about the government’s strategy to mitigate the effect of losses incurred by the Delhi Metro rail network, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister said in the Metro Rail Policy of 2017, measures to enhance revenue through various innovative means such as provisioning of the feeder system, leasing of spaces, property development at stations and on other land, Transit Oriented Development as well as Value Capture Finance are enumerated. According to Puri, it is the state government’s responsibility to ensure financial sustainability during metro rail operations.