Tejasvi Surya protests metro fare hike, interacts with commuters in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya, staged a unique protest on Sunday against the proposed annual revision of Bengaluru Metro fares.

Wearing a T-shirt printed with the slogans “Mr CM, Cut the Drama” and “#FareHikeBeda,” Surya interacted with metro commuters at the R.V. Road metro station and voiced strong opposition to the fare increase.

The MP held discussions with passengers regarding the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s (BMRCL) proposal to revise fares annually. His protest comes at a time when the Congress-led Karnataka government has claimed that it had not requested any fare revision.

To counter this claim, Surya displayed selected excerpts from the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) report printed on his T-shirt. He alleged that it was state government officials themselves who had strongly recommended an automatic yearly fare hike.

Quoting from the report, Surya said, “Officials from the Karnataka government’s Finance and Urban Development departments informed the FFC that there is an urgent need to increase metro fares to reduce the financial burden on the state. They also insisted on implementing an annual automatic fare revision formula.”

He further pointed out that the Urban Development Department had repeatedly written to BMRCL asking it to form the fare fixation committee at the earliest. This, he said, clearly proves that the state government was directly responsible for the hike.

During the interaction, several commuters expressed their concerns about the 5 percent fare increase scheduled to come into effect from Monday. Many complained that higher metro fares would severely affect daily commuters, especially students and working professionals.

Addressing the media, Surya said, “The metro fare hike has become inevitable because of the financial mismanagement of the Congress government. Chapter 3, page 9 of the FFC report clearly exposes the poor financial condition of the state.”

He explained that the Karnataka government had so far been providing Shadow Cash Support (SCS) to BMRCL through budget allocations. “This support covered operational losses and helped repay loans so that metro services remained affordable.

But due to the present financial crisis, the government is withdrawing this support, which has directly resulted in steep fare hikes,” he alleged. Surya also informed that he has taken up the issue with Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

“I have brought to his notice that because of the fare hike, commuters may end up paying nearly ₹250 per day. The minister has instructed his department to temporarily halt the increase and review the shortcomings in BMRCL,” he said.

The BJP MP demanded that the state government immediately reconstitute the fare fixation committee and reconsider the decision in the larger interest of Bengaluru citizens.

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