The proposed second fare hike of Delhi Metro from October 10 is fast snowballing into a tug-of-war with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) pushing for the hike to “continue providing good quality services”, and the Delhi government calling for an emergency board meet stating that the hike was a “clear violation” of law. DMRC is a 50:50 venture between the Urban Development Ministry and the State government.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal directed the Delhi government representatives on DMRC’s Board to give an immediate notice for convening an emergency meeting.

The decision was taken in a meeting convened by the Chief Minister and attended by the Deputy Chief Minister, Transport Minister, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary Finance, Transport Commissioner and other senior officials, an official release said, adding that 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.

Meanwhile, the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has also jumped in the fray and held a protest here on Tuesday against the hike.

Increase in input cost DMRC, which has been operating in Delhi since 2002, and at present carries around 27 lakh passengers daily, said in a release that since 2009, there had been no fare increase whereas the input cost for DMRC had increased by over 105 per cent in energy, 139 per cent in staff cost and by 213 per cent for repair and maintenance.

DMRC has taken a huge loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and payment of ₹26,760 crore is still outstanding.

Moreover, it has to provide for depreciation and replacement of various assets, such as the trains, which have a life of 30 years and will have to be replaced subsequently. In spite of operating efficiently, DMRC is making a net loss of ₹378 crore in view of these factors, the release added.

It said the long gap of over eight years in the formation of the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) had resulted in the fare hike in percentages which, if seen on yearly basis, was in the ‘reasonable’ range of seven-eight per cent per annum, taking into account the two phases of the fare hike — first phase in May 2017 and the second in October 2017, the release said.

Preventive checks Once phase-III of the Delhi Metro is fully operational, commuters on many routes will have to travel shorter distances and will be paying lesser fares, DMRC said, adding that a comparison of Metro fares in India shows that DMRC’s maximum fare level was either less or comparable in spite of a higher per capita income in Delhi .

As the Metro system is getting older, more maintenance procedures, preventive and corrective checks, safety and reliability checks, replacement of electrical fittings, base plates, rail testing are required, which is essential for providing a world class service, and which also leads to increased cost in overall operations and maintenance, DMRC said.

Objections ignored Meanwhile, the Delhi government has questioned DMRC as to why there was a gap of eight months for a meeting to be held between FFC and the DMRC Board if sprucing up revenues was such an urgent need.

“It is also a matter of serious concern that the objections raised by the elected Delhi government were ignored by the Fare Fixation Committee in September last year. Though the DMRC is trying to justify the steep fare hike, it has still not answered the key question that if it felt the hike was necessary, then why was there a gap of eight months between the meetings of the Fare Fixation Committee and the DMRC Board,” the Delhi government said in a release.

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