HYDERABAD: In what should come as a piece of good news for the commuters, the Telangana government is in no mood for revision of passenger fares in Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR). It has been vehemently opposing the request of the L&T Hyderabad Metro Ltd (L&THMRL) to increase the passenger fares. Official sources told TNIE that L&THMRL is bringing pressure on the government for fare revision in order to tide over its financial difficulties after Covid-19 had played havoc with its revenues.
The L&THMRL, which built the project, is running the project across 69 km on three metro corridors - Red Line (L B Nagar to Miyapur), Blue Line (Nagole to Raidurg) and Green Line (Jubilee Bus Station to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, Imlibun).
The State government is of the view that Hyderabad citizens voluntarily patronise the Hyderabad Metro Rail for ease of travel, punctuality, safety, and reliability, especially for long-distance journeys. Though its fares are on a little higher side vis-à-vis other modes of transport, the commuters are satisfied with the ease in commuting by the Metro Rail.
Against this backdrop, the government is apprehensive about the fare hike demand of L&T HMRL, just at a time when commuters are preferring Metro Rail to private transport.
The government is not very happy over HMRL not fulfilling its commitments fully, as per the concession agreement, especially those related to improving passenger amenities, increasing the number of bogies, etc. The government may use this as a lever for not allowing any fare hikes.
In another development, in October last year the concessionaire succeeded in getting a “Fair Fixation Committee” (FFC) for Hyderabad Metro Rail by the Central government. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) constituted a three-member FFC under the chairmanship of retired Justice Gudiseva Shyam Prasad. The other two members of the Committee are Surendra Kumar Bagde, MoHUA Additional Secretary representing the Centre, and MAUD Special Chief Secretary, Arvind Kumar representing the Telangana government.
The Committee has held a series of meetings since October 2022 and recently submitted its report to the government. It is not clearly known whether the Committee recommended any fare revision, and if so, the rates of such revision, as the government has not made the report public. However, it is learnt that the Telangana government is not inclined to hike the fares at this juncture.