Delhi Govt. proposal for free metro rides for women- observes SC

Delhi Govt. proposal for free metro rides for women- observes SC

DEEPAKSHI BHALLA 

Background 

The Delhi Metro is an urban passenger transportation system running in Delhi and in its neighbouring cities of Gurgaon, Noida etc. The concept of urban passenger transportation emerged from a traffic and travel character study which was held in the capital in 1964. By far it is the largest and the most occupied metro in India. Its headquarters are in Metro Bhawan, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. It began its operation on 24th December 2002. In total it has 250 stations. The system has a min of underground, at-grade and elevated stations. Delhi Metro conducts over 2700 trips per day with the first round starting at 5 am and the last round ending at 11:30 pm. It was set up jointly by Government of India and Government of Delhi in 1995. The first line of Delhi Metro, the Red Line was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Delhi Govt. proposal for free metro rides for women.

Current Issue (Delhi Govt. proposal for free metro rides for women- observes SC)

The Delhi Government's pioneering proposal of providing free metro rides for women was lambasted by the Supreme Court on Friday. The Supreme Court questioned the Delhi Government for giving charity and sops saying that it might incur huge losses on Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The Apex court warned the Delhi Government and said that the court is not powerless so if the Delhi Government tries to do something against the norms it would stop them. The court said that is not a profitable venture for Delhi Metro Railway Corporation and the Delhi Government should refrain from providing charities. A bench comprising of justice Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta told the Delhi Government's side lawyer that if free metro rides are provided to the women then it would lead to disturbance in the financial status and asked the Government to not to give charity from public money itself. Why you want to sabotage the Delhi metro, the bench said adding Do you want to give sops and ask the Union of India to bear the cost.  The Supreme Court further said that the Delhi Government must make proper use of public money rather wasting it.

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Conclusion 

In the present situation, the Supreme Court, however, directed that the land cost for the project would be endured by the centre and Delhi Government equally. The bench said that operational loss if any, in the 103.94 km long phase 4 of the Delhi Metro project would be borne by the Delhi Government as it is the mode of conveyance in the national capital.

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