Bengaluru: Even as Bengalureans worry that a proposed 5% hike in Namma Metro fares in Feb could further pinch household budgets, the issue has snowballed into a full-blown political slugfest between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP, with both sides trading blame and absolving themselves of responsibility.The debate, which comes in the run-up to the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) elections, got high decibel after Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya attacked the state govt and Namma Metro operator BMRCL, accusing them of allowing “fare anomalies” and demanding the constitution of a new fare fixation committee (FFC). Congress swiftly hit back, arguing that the state govt has no legal role in fixing Metro fares and that the responsibility squarely rests with the BJP-led Centre.In a strongly worded post on social media, Congress said the fares are fixed under the Metro Railways (Operations & Maintenance) Act, 2002, a central law.“BMRCL is a 50:50 Centre–state joint venture, not a state unit. The fare fixation committee is appointed by the Union govt, not the state. The chairman of BMRCL is the secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs, a BJP-appointed authority based in Delhi. Under Section 37 of the Act, FFC recommendations are binding, and the state govt has zero legal power to stall, revise or roll back fares,” the party said.Escalating its attack on Surya, Congress added, “If Bengaluru’s Metro fares are ‘the highest in the country’, ask your own BJP govt at the Centre why? Instead of conveniently running away from responsibility, Congress has consistently opposed unjust fare hikes and demanded moderation within the limited space the law allows. Stop gaslighting Bengaluru. Stop playing victim while holding the remote control.”Earlier, Surya had blamed the state govt for what he called Bengaluru’s transformation into the costliest Metro system in the country. “Metro travel in Bengaluru now costs nearly twice as much as in Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, resulting in a drop in the ridership,” he said.He alleged that the proposed 5% hike, expected in Feb, was meant to plug operational and maintenance losses, which he attributed to delays in project execution by BMRCL.Citing the Orange Line project, Surya said the Union govt cleared the project within 100 days of coming to power, but BMRCL floated tenders only after a delay of over one-and-a-half years, leading to a cost escalation. “This financial burden is ultimately passed on to Metro users through fare hikes,” he said.Caught in the political blame game, Metro commuters appear unlikely to get any immediate relief. A senior BMRCL source said the corporation’s board had last year approved the FFC report in its entirety and that, under the law, the recommendations are binding—making the 5% hike difficult to avoid.When contacted, BMRCL chief PRO BL Yeshwanth Chavan said, “We have no comments on this issue at this juncture.”In Feb last year, BMRCL implemented a steep fare hike of over 110% based on the FFC recommendations. Following intense public backlash, the fare matrix was revised and the maximum hike was capped at 71%. Even so, the increase placed a heavy strain on the commuters. An additional 5% hike under the ‘automatic fare formula’, also recommended by the FFC, is now expected to further burden lakhs of daily Namma Metro users.
