Bangalore metro fare hike: No official orders issued to rescind updated tariffs

No official orders have been issued to rescind the updated Bangalore metro rail tariffs, which are scheduled to begin this Monday, reported news agency PTI.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) previously declared a price adjustment ranging between Re 1 and ₹5.

"We have not received any direction to roll back Metro fares. Therefore, whatever was announced earlier will hold," a BMRCL official told PTI.

On Saturday, Tejasvi Surya, the BJP MP for Bengaluru South, claimed that Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar had asked authorities to pause the intended fare hike temporarily.

Surya noted that the Union Minister promised a personal investigation into discrepancies within the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) and suggested a new committee could be formed upon the state government's request.

Earlier that day, Surya met with Metro passengers to gather feedback regarding the price rise.

Speaking to the media afterward, he stated that riders were frustrated by the regularity of these tariff changes.

Consequently, Surya called for the formal establishment of a new Fare Fixation Committee.

The BJP MP also alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar were "misleading the public by blaming the Centre for the fare hike."

Simultaneously, Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy held the state administration responsible for the hike. He claimed that the state was pushing for the increase despite the central government's advice to halt it.

"After increasing Metro fares, the state government is passing the buck to the Centre, which is untrue," the JD(S) second-in-command told reporters in Mysuru.

Kumaraswamy also accused the state of failing to maintain a cooperative relationship with the Centre regarding the execution of federal policies and programs.

On Saturday, DK Shivakumar said that the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation didn't consult with him before revising the fare prices and assured that he will discuss the matter.

"They didn't consult us. They have the authority, as the Central Government Secretary serves as the chairman. He has taken this decision. I do not want to cause any trouble for the public, and I plan to discuss the matter further…. I will also review the financial structure of the decision," he said.

The First Fare Fixation Committee (FFC), while recommending the revised fare structure for BMRCL, observed that the revision of fares after 7.5 years and the optimisation of fare zones from 29 to 10 have resulted in an average increase of 51.55%. With a view to avoiding such a situation of infrequent and steep fare increases in future, the committee has recommended in its report to revise the fare annually by having a transparent Annual Automatic Fare Revision Formula linked with O&M cost or 5% per annum, whichever is lower, by rounding off to the nearest rupee.