Women are travelling in New Delhi Metro in ladies compartment (Express photo by Renuka Puri) Women are travelling in New Delhi Metro in ladies compartment (Express photo by Renuka Puri)

Two weeks after the Delhi Metro submitted a detailed report on ways to implement free rides for women to the Delhi government’s Transport Department, the Centre Thursday said it has received no communication from the AAP government on the proposal.

In a written response in the Lok Sabha, MoS (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said “no” to a question on whether the Delhi government has sent any such proposal to the Centre for its approval. The Delhi government and the Centre are equal equity holders in the DMRC.

CM Arvind Kejriwal, meanwhile, referred to the Metro’s report and asserted that the Delhi government was “committed to providing free rides to women”. “I, the Chief Minister of Delhi, assure the people… that Metro rides would be free for women of the city. Have faith in your chief minister,” he said while interacting with the media.

“Legally, we don’t need to send any proposal to the central government. The Delhi government has decided to make Metro travel for women free by giving subsidy for the same… We wrote to the DMRC to send a proposal to us; Delhi Metro is ready, we are also ready,” he added.

As reported by The Indian Express on June 14, the DMRC has proposed that free rides can be executed by disbursing special tokens for women or designated smart cards. It also opined that the proposal will have to be placed before a fare fixation committee, which is to be notified by the Union government.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra wrote two separate letters to Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on June 6, three days after Kejriwal announced the free rides proposal.

In one letter, Mishra urged the Delhi government to withdraw its direction to the Delhi Metro on not launching construction of the Phase IV project, while the other letter pertains to funding of procurement of feeder buses.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.