The Delhi government’s proposal to make metro rides free for women came under heavy criticism from the Supreme Court on Friday, NDTV reported.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta, which was hearing the Arvind Kejriwal administration’s plea that the Centre must share 50% of operational losses for the expansion of phase four of Delhi Metro, said sops and claims of loss do not go hand in hand.
“On one hand it [Delhi government] is extending sops but in court it wants direction to Centre to bear 50% operational losses, if ever incurred in future,” Hindustan Times quoted the bench as saying. “If you allow people to travel free then it will be a problem, if you give freebies then there will be a problem.”
Arun Mishra said the court would stop all sops. “Here you talk about losses and fighting for sharing costs,” he told the state government counsel. “You handle public money. Court is not powerless to order proper channelisation of funds... self-treated bankruptcy should not come in the way.”
The court pointed out that the state was responsible for transport. “We find nothing objectionable in case the metro suffers losses to be borne by the state as metro is a conveyance within the state and considering the nature of the facility the losses, if any, to be borne by state to ensure policies which do not cause any operational loss or otherwise to the running of the metro,” the judges observed. “Hence, we do not find any substance in this objection.”
The court directed the Centre and the Delhi government to equally bear the land cost for the 103.94-km project. It asked the authorities to ensure there is no delay, and ordered them to release Rs. 2,447.19 crore within three weeks. The fourth phase will consist of six corridors – Aerocity to Tughlakabad, Inderlok to Indraprastha, Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block, Mukundpur to Maujpur, Janakpuri West to RK Ashram, and Rithala to Bawana and Narela.
In June, the Aam Aadmi Party had announced its plan to make metro rides and travel on Delhi Transport Corporation buses free for women. The Bharatiya Janata Party had criticised the proposal, calling it an election gimmick. Assembly elections are due to be held by February 2020. In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the AAP failed to win any seat in the Capital.
Also read:
- ‘We’ll save more, hang out more’: Delhi women commuters welcome AAP’s free ride in metro, buses
- Delhi plan to make public transport free for women is a great idea, but based on a shaky assumption
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