Arvind Kejriwal announces free metro and bus rides for women commuters in Delhi
The Chief Minister of Delhi – Arvind Kejriwal has announced free rides to women commuters in Delhi Metro Rail and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses.
The move is aimed at helping women commuters from weaker section of the society to travel safely through metro rail and bus. The move is likely to be implemented in the next 2-3 months.
After a massive defeat in the recently held General Elections and keeping an eye on the upcoming Delhi Assembly Elections, this seems to be a desperate move from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose term is ending in February 2020. For the records, AAM won the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015 with majority but lost all 7 seats in the 2019 General Elections.
Speaking on the occasion, Arvind Kejriwal said, “The safety of women is the most important thing for the AAP government. Keeping this in mind, the government has decided that in Delhi all Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses and the Metro will be free for women so that the maximum number of women can use public transport. This is said to be the safest for women. They are not able to use these services also because of the increase in Metro fares.”
The move is likely to cost Rs. 1,600 crores this year to the Government. The Delhi Government is working on a model where women, who don’t want free ride, can opt out of the subsidy.
A member of the Political Affairs Committee of Aam Aadmi Party – Atishi Marlena said, “As of now only 33 per cent of Metro commuters are women. The fare hike last year hit women the worst forcing them to shift to more unsafe modes of transport like private buses, ride sharing, or even walking.”
As per the plans, Delhi Government will reimburse the actual amount lost on tickets to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Chief Minister’s decision has received a mixed response from public and political parties. A lot of people complained that it will result in overcrowding in metro. However, AAP has said that DMRC is well prepared and doesn’t foresee it to be a problem. DMRC has a capacity of 40 lakhs ridership daily. Presently, only 25 lakh commuters are using it daily, which is 15 lakh less than capacity.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticized the move and has said that the announcement is a lie. The BJP’s Delhi President and Bhojpuri Actor – Manoj Tiwari said, “It is a new lie by the Delhi government. They are saying that they will implement it in three months. What they could not do in so many months, what will they do now? If they really want to give relief to their residents in the last five months, the Kejriwal government should implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme.”
He further added that Arvind Kejriwal has lost Delhi and now he is making fake promises to gain the confidence of voters. He also said that Kejriwal loves to keep the voters in delusion.
