Committee to fix Mumbai Metro tariff formed: CM Fadnavis

CM Fadnavis has said that the state will request a stay on the decision since the much-delayed Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) has finally been constituted and will decide on the Mumbai Metro tariff issue.

Two days after the Bombay high court (HC) cleared the decks for the hike in Metro fare, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in troubleshooting mode, has said that the state will request a stay on the decision since the much-delayed Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) has finally been constituted and will decide on the tariff issue.

Fadnavis, who was in Delhi, met Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu to discuss this matter.

“Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu has constituted a committee under retired justice Padmanabhan for tariff fixation for Mumbai metro. The state government requested a stay on the HC order and let the committee decide on the tariff issue,” said Fadnavis after meeting Naidu on the metro issue on Saturday.

The HC had come down heavily on the Maharashtra government for delaying the formation of the FFC. The court said R-Infra and MMOPL (Mumbai Metro One Private Limited) can increase the fare band to Rs 10-40.

The decision to appoint three members for the FFC — retired HC judge Padmanabhan, former law secretary TK Vishwanathan and former state bureaucrat Subhodh Kumar — had been taken in October 2014, but the department has still not given it a final nod.

Fadnavis also..
* Met environment minister Prakash Javadekar on the issue of environmental clearance of the coastal road
* Met home minister Rajnath Singh and requested that a committee be constituted under him to consider Maharashtra’s memorandum on drought soon
* Requested the home minister to deploy additional Indo-Tibetan Border Police forces in the Maoist-affected areas