BENGALURU: Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on Saturday said the proposed 5% increase in Bengaluru Metro fares will be kept on hold following the intervention of Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
The revised fares, which were scheduled to come into effect from Monday (February 9), will not be implemented for now, Surya said.
In a post on social media, Surya said he had a detailed phone conversation with Khattar, seeking immediate intervention against what he described as an “unjust” fare hike proposed by the State government. During the discussion, Surya pointed out that Bengaluru already has the highest Metro fares in the country and said that any further increase would make public transport unaffordable for lakhs of commuters, defeating the very purpose of the Metro.
He said Khattar told him that the proposed hike would be put on hold temporarily and assured him of a personal review of alleged anomalies in the recommendations of the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC). Khattar indicated that the possibility of constituting a fresh FFC could be considered if the state government formally initiates the process.
When contacted, BMRCL, however, stated that there has been no official communication on withholding the fare revision.