3 months ago
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After mounting nationalist outrage and an aggravated governmental speech betwixt the ruling Congress and the BJP successful the State, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) has enactment connected clasp the implementation of the projected yearly fare revision for Namma Metro, which was scheduled to travel into effect connected February 9, 2026.
In a media merchandise connected Sunday, BMRCL said its earlier connection dated February 5, announcing the fare revision, had been kept successful abeyance until further orders. “The determination connected the revised fare volition beryllium communicated aft the board’s review,” the merchandise stated, without specifying a timeline.
The rollback follows wide disapproval from commuters and a governmental slugfest, with some the BJP and the Congress attempting to pin work for the projected hike connected the other. The contented was politically sensitive, peculiarly successful the backdrop of past year’s steep summation successful metro fares that had sparked protests crossed the city.
Communication from Centre
Speaking to The Hindu, sources successful BMRCL said that the determination to intermission the revision was taken aft a connection from the Union government.
“There has been a connection received from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), hence we person decided to temporarily clasp the fare hike. However, the BMRCL Board volition reappraisal the matter,” the authoritative said.
BMRCL had earlier announced a zone-wise fare revision nether its Annual Automatic Fare Revision mechanism. The revised fare operation projected a marginal summation of ₹1 to ₹5 crossed 10 fare zones, with fares recalibrated based connected region slabs crossed the Namma Metro network. While the summation was projected arsenic modest, it triggered beardown absorption from commuters, mostly due to the fact that it followed the arguable fare hike implemented successful February past year.
On February 9, 2025, BMRCL had rolled retired a crisp fare increase, with definite slabs witnessing hikes of implicit 100%. Following wide protests and commuter anger, the corp aboriginal attributed the anomaly to method issues successful fare calculation and capped the hike astatine 71% with effect from February 14, 2025, based connected the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) report.
BJP claims credit
Amid the latest controversy, BJP leaders claimed recognition for the impermanent suspension. Tejasvi Surya, MP for Bengaluru South, and R. Ashok, Leader of the Opposition successful the Legislative Assembly, said connected Saturday that the Union authorities had intervened to halt the hike.
On Sunday, Mr. Surya reiterated the assertion successful a station connected X, stating: “As assured, BMRCL has enactment the projected Metro fare hike connected clasp from tomorrow. A triumph for the radical of Bengaluru who person opposed this unjust summation for implicit a year.”
He added that the alleviation was impermanent and urged the State authorities to reconstruct operational subsidies and question a caller Fare Fixation Committee to guarantee a fair, scientific, and transparent revision process.
