The Centre will recommend for introduction of concessional fare for senior citizens and students in metro services in Mumbai and is not averse to do so in other cities too but it can't take a decision, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today.
He said as of now the government does not have any proposal for introducing concessional fares for the senior citizens and students in metro services.
"But the government is not averse to making a recommendation to this effect that senior citizens and students be provided some concessional fare," he said in Lok Sabha during Question Hour.
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The union minister for housing and urban affairs said the government could be in a position to recommend concessional fares for senior citizens and students to the fare fixation committee.
"But ultimately, this will have to be a determination to be made by the statutory body, which is the fare fixation committee. It is not our task (starting concessional fare), but we would be happy to make that recommendation," he said.
Puri said it is possible for the government to recommend concessional fares for senior citizens and students, but the fixation of those fares is not done by the government.
"It was with great wisdom that the fare fixation structure of the Metro was insulated from the competitive and populist politics which normally governments can succumb to.
"Therefore, there is a fare fixation committee, which is a statutory body, headed by either a sitting judge of the high court or a retired judge and comprises of two members of additional secretary level officer, one each from the central government and the state government," he said.
Puri said in the next few months whenever the next fare fixation committee is established, in the case of the Mumbai Metro, because the High Court has cleared it, "we would be happy to make that recommendation".
The minister said the Calcutta Metro is run by the Indian Railways and it provides a special concessional fare for students up to class 12 of normal schools and madrassas.
But, he said, there is a crucial difference between the Calcutta Metro and other metro systems because the rest of the metro systems run on the basis of tokens and smart cards.
Referring to the Delhi Metro, Puri said at the report of the fare fixation committee of the Delhi Metro, which submitted its report in September, 2016, they said that they had considered a system of concessional fare, but they found that they were not technologically ready at that point of time.
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