Fares of metro rail are reasonable: Quader

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said that the fares of metro rail are within the reach of people.

The Minister said this while replying to questions from  journalists at the Secretariat on Thursday.

"At least Tk 20 has to be paid when people ride on rickshaws. In that sense, the fare of metro rail is okay. There are differences between the metro rail of Dhaka and Kolkata. Our metro rail is better than those of Thailand and Indonesia. Dhaka's metro rail looks good," said Quader.

The Minister added that the rest of the work of MRT-6 will be completed within next year.

"Besides, we'll also start the works of MRT-1 and MRT-5 under the rule of the Awami League (AL) government. Both of these MRT lines will cover an area of 31 kilometres, among which 21km will be underground and 10km will be expressway."

Feasibility study is being conducted in Chattogram to find out if metro rail service can be launched there, Quader added.

Replying to a question, Quader, also the General Secretary of the ruling AL, said that his party leaders and activists will be guarding the streets on the day of Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) pre-scheduled mass procession on December 30.

"Will we eat lollypops while BNP activists create violence? We'll be on the streets tomorrow like we were on December 10," Quader said.

Quader further said that AL will take part in the next general elections whether EVM is used or not.

"We want EVMs to be used in the next election. However, we'll accept the decision of the Election Commission (EC) in this regard. Whatever happens, we'll participate in the next elections," Quader said.