BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah slammed BJP leaders for blaming the Metro rail fare hike on the State government, though the same party leaders in Karnataka had taken credit for the Metro project.
He said the ticket fare had not been revised since 2017, hence Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had written to the Central government to revise the fare. “If the price hike was under the State government’s control, they would have written to us and not the Centre,’’ he said.
BJP leaders are trying to spread fake news on the Metro fare hike and misleading the public, Siddaramaiah said. BMRCL was established by the State and Central governments with 50 per cent share each, and the Board of Directors has officials from both the State and Centre.
“It is an independent institution. The State government does not have complete control. Like any other Metro corporation in India, BMRCL too functions under the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act of 2002,” he said.
He explained that after BMRCL wrote to the Centre, a price revision committee had been constituted under the chairmanship of retired Justice R Tharaani of the Madras High Court in September 2024. The committee had interacted with BMRCL, and officials of the Delhi and Chennai Metro corporations, and submitted its report in December 2024.
He said in 2017, when BMRCL fixed ticket fares, only 42.30km of the first phase was completed. By end of December 2026, the Metro network will touch 175.55km on all phases. The committee had checked all these aspects.
The CM pointed out that minimum fare on Bengaluru Metro is Rs 10, and maximum fare is Rs 90, and on Mumbai Metro, minimum fare is Rs 10 and maximum Rs 80. “Except Delhi, in the first phase, all Metro fares were decided by the State government and now it is done by the Centre,” he added.