Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Chief Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan demanded reduction in fares of Hyderabad Metro Rail.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, Sravan condemned the State Government for changing the slabs from six to 10 in violation of Tariff Agreements. He said that the previous Congress Government had proposed minimum fare of Rs. 8 and maximum of Rs. 19. However, by changing the tariff from six to 10 slabs, the HMRL has fixed minimum fare at Rs. 10 and maximum at Rs. 50. He said poor and middle class people would not be able to afford those prices. He said the proposed maximum fare for 10-14 km journey was Rs. 14. But now Rs. 40 are being charged. He said that the fares have been increased by 300 times. He said a common man would not be able to afford to spend Rs. 120 to travel from a particular destination to another in Metro Rail.
Sravan said that the L&T was entitled to recover only 40% of its investment from the fares and rest 60% from shopping complexes. Therefore, the HMRL could not collect huge fares from the common people. Demanding that the government reduce the fares immediately, he warned that the Congress party would launch mass agitation on the issue.
Sravan also ridiculed Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav’s contention that the previous Congress regime had completed only 15% works and remaining project was completed by present TRS Government. He said that the minister was misleading the people with factually incorrect statements. He said as per the information procured through an RTI query, the Congress Government had spent Rs. 1685.87 crore or 82% of funds from 2010-2014 while the present TRS Government had spent only Rs. 370 crore or just 18% funds.
Giving the break-up of spending he said Rs. 61.20 Cr were spent in 2010-10; Rs. 350 Cr in 2011-12; Rs. 600 Cr in 2012-13; Rs. 424.67 in 2014-15; Rs. 177 Cr in 2015-16; Rs. 163 Cr in 2016-17 and Rs. 30 crore in 2017-18 (as on July 31, 2017). He advised Talasani to do proper homework before making any statement.
Sravan also accused the TRS Government of insulting GHMC Mayor Bonthu Rammohan during the inauguration of Metro Rail project. He said that the KCR Government has violated all protocols by humiliating the First Citizen of Greater Hyderabad.
The Congress leader said that the TRS Government had allegedly spent over Rs. 100 crore in the name of road improvement for the visit of Advisor to US President Ivanka Trump.. However, it did not react in a similar fashion when the common citizens of Hyderabad suffered due to bad roads after monsoon.
He also asked whether the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was organised to promote investment or to promote IT Minister K. Tarakarama Rao. He said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekahar Rao’s statements on women empowerment were hollow as he had failed to induct a woman minister into his cabinet. He slammed KCR for misusing the GES platform to promote his minister son.