Had Centre made Maharashtra government's changes in Metro Act, fares wouldn't have risen: Officials

If a few recommendations by the state government would have been made back in 2009 to incorporate amendments to the Metro Railways (Amendment) Act, 2009, the fare controversy of the Versova-Ghatkopar Metro wouldn't have occurred, and probably the fares wouldn't have risen either.

Officials associated with the project said, "The state had asked the Centre to include certain clauses to the amended Act as it was not a complete legislation taking care of the future Metro rails in India. But those points were not included and, hence, all this mess."

According to a retired government official, the legislation was framed for government-owned Metro rails, not those having private participation — the one in Mumbai has been implemented on the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

"The idea was to add certain words of exception in the Act. For example, the rules would be applicable for all Metro rails, except those implemented through PPP," said the former official.

This would have ensured that the Concession Agreement inked between the state and private firms is the rule book for the project and not clauses of the Metro Railways Act. This would have also meant lower fares of Rs9-11-13.

Even the then chief minister had appealed to the Centre, but the needful was not done.

Now, once again the state has started the process of asking the Centre to incorporate exceptions for PPP projects in order to protect larger public interest.

The 11.4km-long Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Mumbai Metro corridor was notified under the Metro Railways Act on November 18, 2013, by the union ministry of urban development. Earlier, the project was being implemented under the Indian Tramways Act.