BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Metro Commuters Association (BMCA) on Wednesday demanded the state government to disclose information on the cess collected over a decade for infrastructure projects in Karnataka, including Namma Metro.
The BMCA has continued to demand for a complete rollback of the hiked Metro train ticket rates. The Association has collected over 10,000 signatures against the hike and submitted it to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
The BMCA plans to hold a citizens convention on February 23 to discuss the future course of action that commuters need to adopt to achieve their objectives.
V N Rajashekhar, a member of BMCA, which is affiliated to Save Bangalore Committee, told newspersons that from 1996 upto 2003, the State government had collected a small cess on every litre of petrol/diesel or on every property registered in Karnataka calling this as a Special City cess for infrastructure purposes.
“BMRTL, the precursor to BMRCL, was created in 1994. As per data collected, in the financial year 2002-2003 alone, a total of Rs 403 crore has been collected and in today’s terms this would be equivalent to over Rs 1,400 crore. BMCA demands a white paper on this whole affair of cess collection,” he said.
Reiterating that when the fare hike is being contemplated only the daily operational costs of BMRCL must be taken into account and not the overall infrastructure cost, Rajashekhar said the wages of the daily wage worker need to be taken into consideration as the base and fares set accordingly.
“In the popular Paris Metro, one can buy a ticket for 2.5 Euros and use that to travel by train and by bus for an entire day,” he pointed out.
Another member Rajesh Bhat said, “The fare hike implemented is both irrational and unscientific and unprecedented in the country. There is no rationale behind the abnormal hike when BMRCL clocked operational profits of Rs 129.3 crore for 2023-2024 preceded by an operational surplus of Rs 108 crore in 2022-2023 and expects the operational profit to touch Rs 200 crore figure in 2025-2026.”
Reiterating that the cost of the project, the money for debt servicing, interest payment and depreciation cannot be recovered from the commuters, Bhat queried, “Will the cost of building the Vidhana Soudha be recovered from the MLAs having their offices there?”
The online petition was submitted to BMRCL MD Maheshwar Rao on Monday (Feb 17), he added. The convention will be held on Sunday at the Scouts and Guides Hall (next to Maharani Cluster University) with transport experts, intellectuals and commuters taking part. It will be held from 11 am to 1.30 pm