Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today inaugurated the Mumbai metro service from Versova Station in the western suburb.

Chavan launched the service along with ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani at 10.10 am.

The CM said that the start of metro services will revolutionise the way of commutation of Mumbaikars.

With the launch of the metro service, the journey on the 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch will reduce to 20 minutes from around 90 minutes at present by road transport.

The launch of the metro services was witnessed some controversy on Saturday when Chavan said that he will launch the services only if MMOPL (Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd) agrees to accept the fares notified by the state government. But the CM later agreed to flag-off the service.

Chavan today admitted that the dispute over fares still remains but he expressed confidence that it will be sorted out.

MMOPL Director Debashish Mohanty had said that the service will start even if the Chief Minister refuses to come for the inauguration.

MMOPL has fixed a minimum fare of Rs 10 and a maximum of Rs 40 for a one way journey, while the state government's notified fare band is of Rs 9-13.

The MMOPL has increased the fare citing cost escalation in the three-phase project, work on which started in 2006.

MMOPL is a joint venture company comprising Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, Veolia Transport and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).