BMRCL MD agrees for ‘calibration’ of metro rail fare after criticism
Bengaluru, Feb 13 (PTI): The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited's Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao on Thursday said there is scope for calibration of recently hiked fares.
He said this after the BMRCL came under sharp criticism for introducing steep hike in Metro Rail fares. In some cases the fare hike was over 100 per cent prompting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to intervene.
Speaking to reporters in a press conference here, Maheshwar Rao however said, there will be no fare revision but only 'calibration,' in effect meaning easing of hike for some stages without disturbing the basic structure of revision.
The calibration proposed by BMRCL without diluting the provisions of the Metro Railways (Operaton and Maintenance) Act will provide relief to the 46 per cent of commuters, Rao said.
"The committee had given us a methodology to fix fares. We see some scope for corrections and calibration in the details," the BMRCL chief said.
"We were able to find out that in some cases the hike is over100 per cent or 90 per cent. Some people have complained that those who were paying Rs 18 are now spending Rs 40 for the same distance. Some people say that with Metro card the fare comes to Rs 36 (since there is five per cent concession on card user). Some people said that those who were paying Rs 22 earlier are now paying Rs 50," the BMRCL MD said.
Rao said they are correcting some errors in calculation of stages which will ease the fare hike.
"Out of the total 7.5 lakh to 8.5 lakh rides everyday, around three lakh people will get relief by these corrections. Because we will be able to reduce the jump,” he explained.
He added that the change has been done without diluting any of the recommendations, board discussions and the provisions of the Metro Railways Act.
Rao said for the past four to five years the BMRCL had been requesting for fare fixation.
“Last Sunday it (fare hike) came into effect and then we got the information that there was abnormal hike. People posted price comparison in social media. We too reviewed based on the fare matrix to check whether there is scope for corrections. We too discussed with the board members,” the BMRCL MD said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, some MLAs had asked the BMRCL to review it and people too had given representations, he explained.
The BMRCL Board held meetings in this connection since Wednesday.
Fare fixation committee recommendations are binding on the Metro Rail Board as per the Metro Railways Act, he said.
Rao said the Metro Rail has to go by the statute and it has to function for the benefit of people.
Many people think that the BMRCL is going to take huge benefit by increasing fare which was not true, he said.
"The total loan repayment that is to be made over the next four years ranges between Rs 770 crore Rs 2,700 crore including principal and interest. Government gives us principal and the interest part has to be borne by the Metro Rail,” the MD said.
Along with that the BMRCL has to make provision for depreciation such as replacing the rolling stock and other equipments over a period of time.
"So whatever we do we are always going to be a loss making organisation which has been subsidised by the Government. What we can do is to run it efficiently and think how to give best services to the people,” Rao explained.
He underlined that a lot of capital investment is required to run the BMRCL and the fare hike was done for that.
A statement issued by the BMRCL said Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s fare at present is from Rs.10 to Rs. 60.
"However, this fare structure was fixed in 2017 and since then about 8 years have gone. Hence comparison with it is not appropriate," the statement read. Minimum fare of Mumbai Metro is also Rs.10 but the maximum is Rs.80, it further said.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
