BENGALURU: Amid public anger over Namma Metro fare hikes, the state government has denied any role in fare fixation, calling it outside its purview. However, the previous hike of 105% was rolled back and revised to 71% following the chief minister’s intervention. As the Centre-state debate rages, Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan cited the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Centre, State and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), placing the fare fixation responsibility on the state.
In a series of posts on social media, Mohan said that while Metro operations are governed by the Metro Railways (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2002, fare revision is not automatically imposed by the Union government. He asserted that a Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) is constituted by the Centre only after a formal request from the state government, and claimed that Karnataka had sought the committee’s formation after withdrawing financial support from BMRCL.
Mohan alleged that official communications from the state’s urban development and finance departments had termed fare revision “imperative” to reduce the government’s financial burden and had even suggested annual fare hikes through an automatic formula. He also said the Metro MoU places responsibility for implementing fare revisions squarely on the state.
Questioning the government’s transparency, the BJP MP claimed that the FFC report was withheld for seven months and released only after court intervention. Pointing to BMRCL’s board composition, he said the state had a voting majority and could have stalled the hike if it wished.
He also accused the government of prioritising road projects over Metro funding and shifting the burden of the Shakti free bus scheme onto Metro commuters.
Meanwhile, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai criticising the hike. “Metro is a public utility used by a large number of people. It needs to have a low fare to make sure people use public transport and not two-wheelers. Raising fares like this will only create more traffic congestion,” he said. “Wrong decision by CM Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar.
When the state government is giving free bus transport for all women, why raise Metro fare where a large number of women are users? As it is fares are very high, the government runs Metro, there’s huge cost escalation due to bad management, and citizens end up paying the price through high fares, where is the accountability?” Pai said.