Delhi metro to get costlier, DMRC's board likely to approve 25% hike today

During non-peak hours an additional discount of 10% would be given to the smart card user

Your daily commute on the Delhi Metro is set to become costlier by at least 25% as the corporation’s board is expected to approve the recommendations of the fare fixation committee that has proposed a fare hike.

According to a source privy to the information, The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Board will approve the fare hike proposal of the fare fixation committee as it does not have the powers to veto. The hike would be implemented within a week of getting the nod from the Board.

However, there may be some discounts to offset the impact of fare hike.

During the non-peak hours an additional discount of 10% would be given to the smart card user and a discount of Rs 10 would be given on the highest and the second highest tariff, the source said. So post these discounts the average fare hike, barring the highest slab, would be effectively 27%.
 

 

The fare fixation committee headed by retired judge M L Mehta of Delhi HC had recommended that the minimum fare should be increased from Rs 8 to Rs 10 and maximum fare should be raised to Rs 50 from the present Rs 30.
 

DMRC last revised fares in September 2009 when the minimum fare was raised to Rs 8 from Rs 6 earlier and maximum to Rs 30 from Rs 22.
 

Since then, the cost of electricity has gone up manifold. Cost of per-unit power in 2009-10 was Rs 3.21, which doubled to Rs 7.25 a unit in 2015-16.
 

DMRC’s energy expenditure in 2009-10 was Rs 83.2 crore, which rose to a whopping Rs 520.5 crore in 2015-16. DMRC consumes 65 per cent of energy for traction with 35 per cent consumed by other auxiliary services for various passenger facilities such as air conditioning, lighting, fire and hydraulics, lift escalators, etc.

Expenditure towards energy constitutes 38 per cent of DMRC’s total operational expenses. DMRC, which suffered a net loss of Rs 708.5 crore in 2015-16, has the liability of returning interest on loan, return of the principal and depreciation.
 

With the increase in network size and commuters, DMRC’s expenses have also risen exponentially. To curtail the expenses, the corporation has switched to solar power and set up solar panels to generate energy.
 

Currently, it is running trains in energy-saving mode, de-energising the idle trains, optimising the air-conditioning levels, etc.