The Hindu : New Delhi News : Hike in bus, taxi and auto fares in the offing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 08, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Hike in bus, taxi and auto fares in the offing

Staff Reporter

The Fare Fixation Committee is working out the new fares

NEW DELHI: With the price of Compressed Natural Gas going up on Monday night, commuters in the Capital should brace themselves up for a steep increase in auto-rickshaw, taxi and bus fares. The Fare Fixation Committee is working out the new fares that had been long overdue in view of the losses suffered by the State-owned Delhi Transport Corporation and the private operators.

Official sources said on Wednesday that the latest increase in CNG prices is likely to hurt the DTC badly. With a fleet of around 3,200 CNG buses, the DTC would have to bear an additional financial burden of Rs. 9 crore per annum. The DTC has already suffered a loss of Rs. 289 crores during the last financial year and if the fare hike does not take place, then it would further sink into the red. The issue of fare hike has been referred to the Fare Fixation Committee headed by Transport Commissioner Vijay Madan.

"We are aware of the situation and the hike in CNG prices will certainly put more burden on DTC. The Fare Fixation Committee will study the entire issue and then place the facts before the Delhi Cabinet which alone is empowered to take a decision on fare hike,'' said Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf.

Mr. Yusuf said DTC would have to face a hike of 35 paise per km in running the DTC fleet.

In addition, private bus, taxi and auto-rickshaw operators have also upped the ante demanding that fares be increased immediately as the input costs have gone up dramatically and it was becoming increasingly unviable to run their vehicles in the present circumstances.

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