Chief secy refuses to toe Kejriwal’s line on Delhi Metro fare

New Delhi: In an unprecedented move, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday summoned the Delhi chief secretary for allegedly not following his instructions and accusing him of hampering his work by acting like a “BJP mole.”

The CM had ordered the chief secretary to issue an enquiry to look into the DMRC fare hike, which the chief secretary refused to initiate. An angry Mr Kejriwal then summoned his chief secretary to his residence for a clarification as to why he was not following his orders.

The AAP has alleged that the chief secretary is taking orders from BJP. Mr Kejriwal had earlier asked chief secretary M.M. Kutty to direct the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) to examine issues related to the recent Metro fare hike and also assess whether it could have been avoided. Mr Kejriwal also sought to know if the Delhi Metro was operating at its optimum capacity and whether the hike in fares is “justified.”

He said since the Delhi government is an equal partner in the DMRC, it is “deeply concerned” about the impact of the hike on common people. The Delhi government and Centre’s equal stake in the city Metro was a “facade” meant for obtaining “large” amounts of funding from the former, stated Mr Kejriwal in the letter that he wrote to Union urban affairs development minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

“DMRC is in no way accountable to the Delhi government, nor does it pay any heed to our directions. Evidently, the said partnership is only a facade that is being used for obtaining large contributions of funding from the Delhi government,” Mr Kejriwal added.