Delhi Metro free rides: It has already been two weeks since the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) submitted a detailed report on the ways to implement free rides for women to the Transport Department of Delhi government. However, the Centre has claimed that it has received no communication on the proposal from the state government. According to an IE report, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, in a written response in the Lok Sabha said “no” when asked whether the Delhi government has sent any such proposal for approval to the Centre. The Centre and the state government of Delhi are equal equity holders in the DMRC.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal referred to Delhi Metro’s report and assured that the Delhi government was committed to providing free rides to women commuters. He said that legally, the state government doesn’t need to send any proposal to the Centre. The state government has decided to make Delhi Metro rides free for women by giving subsidy for the same. Kejriwal further claimed that his government has written to the DMRC to send a proposal to them and added that Delhi Metro, as well as the state government, are ready.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the DMRC has proposed that free rides can be offered to women by disbursing special tokens or designated smartcards. The corporation is also of the view that the proposal will have to be placed before a fare fixation committee (FFC), which is to be notified by the Centre.
Meanwhile, it has also been reported that three days after the Delhi government announced the free rides proposal, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra wrote two separate letters to Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev. In one, Mishra urged the state government to withdraw its direction to the Delhi Metro on not launching construction of the Phase 4 project. While the other letter was regarding the funding of procurement of feeder buses, the report said.
The proposal to provide free Delhi Metro has been slammed by Metro Man E Sreedharan, who has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioning against the precedent such a move would set for other metro networks around the country.