Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday announced a cut in Chennai Metro prices. As per latest announcement, the metro fares have been  brought down by Rs 20 while the base fare remains at Rs 10.


News agency PTI quoted Palaniswami saying "Accepting the demands of the people that the Metro Rail fares should be decreased in order to further enhance the patronage of CMRL service, the government has announced a cut in the fares for the benefit of the public." 


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hon&#39;ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru. Edappadi K Palaniswami has issued a Statement on Chennai Metro Rail Fare Reduction. <a >pic.twitter.com/nCR2JUz07J</a></p>&mdash; Chennai Metro Rail (@cmrlofficial) <a >February 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


As per the new rates, the fare to travel the full length of Chennai Metro will now be Rs 50 instead of Rs 70. The commuters will have to pay Rs 10 for a distance of up to 2 kilometres. However, those travelling a distance from two to five km will be charged Rs 20. 


Those travelling a distance of 5 to 12 km will have to pay Rs 20 while commuters travveling a distance between 12 and 21 km and beyond 21 km (up to 32 km) will have to pay Rs 40.


The state government further said that those people who avail unlimited day passes at Rs 100 for the 45 km stretch of phase-1 of CMRL could now enjoy unlimited day passes at the same sum for additional 9 km. 


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reduction of Chennai Metro Train Fare from 22.02.2021 (Monday) <a >pic.twitter.com/xa27rJM34P</a></p>&mdash; Chennai Metro Rail (@cmrlofficial) <a >February 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Moreover, a discount of 20 per cent of the fare will be provided to those opting to book tickets using the QR code or CMRL smart cards. The State government has announced that the changes in the fares will be implemented from February 22 (Monday).