Regarding the Bengaluru metro fare hike, Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy blamed the central government. He also urged intervention of PM Modi and the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar to reduce the hiked prices. Reddy further alleged that BJP leaders were "spreading lies to misguide the public".
Karnataka Transport minister highlighted the Metro Act and said , any metro that wants to hike fares must first write a letter to the central government. Reddy also hit out at Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav over the same issue and suggested that he first read the Metro Act, along with its rules and regulations since he is the Railway Minister and also in charge of the metro. "Mr Vaishnav according to me has not studied the Metro Act, metro rules and regulations. First, let him read it because he is the Railway Minister and also in charge of the metro," he told reporters here.
Reddy explained the fare hike process
For all metros, the Central Urban Development Minister is the chairman. The metro board will then constitute a fare fixation committee, not only for Bengaluru but for all metros and the head of that committee will be a retired judge, Reddy said. For Bengaluru, retired judge R Tharani is the chairman of that committee, and Satyendra Pal Singh, the additional secretary to the central government, who is one of the members, represents the Centre while retired IAS officer E V Ramana Reddy represents Karnataka, he added.
Citing the rules and regulations, the Transport Minister listed out the procedures followed by the fare fixation committee. "The committee comes to Bengaluru, hears the grievances of the metro and takes opinions from the public and other stakeholders," he said.
'Committee decided to hike the fare'
Minister further stated that it was the committee that decided to hike the fare. "They (the committee) don't give the report to the Karnataka government. They submit it to the Central Metro Board, which is chaired by the Urban Development Minister of the central government. They took the decision. According to that board, they raised the fare of the Bengaluru metro. But BJP people are making unnecessary allegations against the Congress government," he claimed.
'Karnataka government not responsible'
Asserting that the Karnataka government is not responsible for the hike, he accused BJP leaders of making allegations against the state government. "We are not concerned with any of these issues (metro fare hike). Do they (BJP) not know the rules and regulations, including former Chief Ministers Basavaraj Bommai and Jagadish Shettar? Both Shettar and Union minister Pralhad Joshi are advocates, and if they don't read the rules and regulations of the metro and are making false claims against the Karnataka government, it's very shameful," Reddy claimed.
(PTI inputs)