Published 14:48 IST, June 27th 2019

Big Setback to Arvind Kejriwal: Centre says no to AAP government's proposal to make Delhi Metro rides free for women

The Centre on Thursday clarified its stance on free rides for women in Delhi Metro, a freebie that was announced by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier in June. I

Reported by: Koushik Narayanan
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Centre on Thursday clarified its stance on free rides for women in Delhi Metro, a freebie that was anunced by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier in June. In its statement,  Centre said that Union Government h proposal for freebie, reby also ruling out possibility of Centre agreeing with Kejriwal-led Delhi government. 

In response to five questions posed by TMC MP Saugata Roy to Ministry of Urban Affairs and Housing regarding Centre's plan to offer free Delhi metro rides for women, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that Union Government h proposal for free rides r h Delhi government approached Centre for getting approval of any proposal. 

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RE | 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan Requests PM Modi t To Agree To Delhi Government's Free Travel Scheme For Women

freebie scheme that was anunced earlier faced severe backlash from various leers, who accused Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal of anuncing free rides as bait to capture more votes in upcoming Assembly elections.

Metro Man E Sreedharan h penned a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to intervene in matter as free ride would be an extreme burden on exchequer. He said that state government could distribute money to women passengers inste of offering free rides. Sreedharan said when first section of Delhi Metro was to be opened in 2002, he h taken a firm decision that one would be given travel concession.

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Former Delhi Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma said that Delhi people can longer be "fooled" by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

" proposal to provide free ride to women in Metro trains and public transport buses is aimed at hiding failures of Delhi government. Also, anuncement about installing 1.5 lakh CCTV cameras is an attempt to divert attention from unfulfilled promise of free wi-fi that AAP me to people before coming to power," Sharma said.

RE | Congress Delivers Stinging Assessment Of Delhi CM Kejriwal's Free Metro And Bus Travel For Women Anuncement

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13:59 IST, June 27th 2019