The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to put the fare hike proposal that was put forward in September last year on hold for now, owing to “pressures from the political class”, according to sources in the Delhi Metro. However, officially, the Delhi Metro has said: “The fare hike decision has been put on hold because of the absence of some members of the Board of Directors during the recent meeting on fare hike conducted by the Board of Directors.”
Facing growing expenses, the DMRC had proposed a fare hike from the present minimum fare of Rs 8 to Rs10, while the maximum fare was proposed to go up from Rs 30 to Rs 50. A source in the Delhi Metro told The Sunday Guardian, “The decision to increase fares has currently been put on hold because the proposal had come at a time when pollution levels were at their peak and the political class had thought that increasing fares at that time would have caused unnecessary political reactions.”
However, the source also added that increasing Delhi Metro fares is necessary as the cost of operations has increased manifold. The fares were last revised in 2009.
The source also said that “Delhi Metro functions without any subsidy from the government and despite there being no fare hike for many years. Look at what has happened to the Kolkata Metro and the Indian Railways—it is all because of cash crunch with these bodies.”