Manish Sisodiya ‘surprised and pained’ by E Sreedharan’s views on free Delhi Metro ride for women  

Manoj Sisodiya.

While responding on “Metro Man” E Sreedharan letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not agree on the Delhi government’s  proposal of free travel for women in the Delhi Metro, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodiya, wrote to Sreedharan to tell him that he is “surprised and pained” by Sreedharan’s viewpoint.

Explaining the proposal, Sisodia wrote: “The Delhi government will buy around a million coupons in bulk from the DMRC on a daily basis and provide these to women. Why should anyone have any objection to that?”

In the letter, Sisodiya mentioned that Delhi government’s intention is to ensure women’s safety and encourage use of public transport in the capital to reduce air pollution. He called this decision a “revolutionary step to empower women”.

Sisodia further said that after the completion of Phase III of the DMRC, services were designed to have a capacity of 40 lakh passengers daily. Sisodia pointed at ridership figures in his letter to Sreedharan and said, “Figures, however, show that DMRC is catering to an average ridership of less than 25 lakh daily … Delhi Metro is running at less than 65% efficiency, and this is pretty bad performance.”

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