The recent hike in suburban fares and season tickets has left lakhs of daily commuters baffled. As the passengers renew their monthly season tickets, they seem shocked by the new fare slabs; this problem seems more prominent on the Western route where the fares have been fixed within three slabs.
A sub-broker in stock market Pramod Harlalkar said, “One month’s second-class pass for Churchgate to Bhayendar is `190, which is the same as a one month’s pass from Churchgate to Andheri, and it is so ridiculous. It seems that the officials did not apply their minds while deciding the slabs for monthly ticket holders, and this has forced people to take the passes for longer routes, where they hardly travel.” Another commuter Girija Prasad Bedu, who travels daily between Andheri to Churchgate said, “I hardly go towards the north side of Andheri, then why should I pay for it?
Even the Central Railway commuters are complaining about the slab provisions. While the monthly pass fare from CST to Ghatkopar and CST to Kurla has come down from `130 to `115, all the other route fares have gone up drastically.
Additionally, this revised fare system seems to hurt the second-class commuters more than the first-class passengers. Commuters are astonished to see a jump of 500 per cent to 800 per cent in second-class fares.
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Survey slums of ganpat patil nagar: Congress
Age correspondent
Mumbai, jan. 24
In a memorandum submitted to the BMC, Congress has said the fate of slums in Ganpat Patil Nagar in Dahisar on whether they are authorised or illegal, should be decided after an accurate survey is carried out.
“In the demolition drive at Ganpat Patil Nagar, it was found that civic officials, instead of taking action against illegal commercial structures were only razing slums of poor people. Despite several complaints, they also have not acted against land mafias in this area,” said Congress corporator Sheetal Mhatre, who had gone on a hunger strike to protest against BMC’s recent action against slums in Ganpat Patil Nagar. “We have demanded that action be taken against land mafias under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act. The survey should be carried out to decide legality of slums near mangroves,” she added. On January 10, the BMC had razed 1,410 unauthorised slums in Ganpat Patil Nagar. Illegal slums erected within 50 metres from the mangroves were also removed.