Hyderabad metro continues to suffer losses as patronage drop

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) continued to incur losses even after the month of resumption of metro services due to dip in the metro patronage. It is learned that the people are refusing to take the metro ride fearing of the coronavirus despite the precautionary measures being taken up by the HMRL.

Before the lockdown, a total of 4 lakh people used to travel by metro across all the corridors. However, the patronage has dipped to 70,000-80,000 per day due to the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state. Also, the shopping complexes at the metro stations which are said to bring profits for HMRL has not been opened up yet at several stations.

The sanitisation works across all the metro stations have also added up to the losses. With a dip in the patronage and taking up the sanitisation works and operating the trains for a few passengers further pushing the metro into losses.

Hyderabad metro rail has suffered a loss of Rs 260 crore after its operations had been suspended for a total of 160 days. The metro officials said that the losses would be covered up if the government takes over the Hyderabad metro else if metro receives financial aid from the government.