Kerala - Kochi   

No increase in private bus fare: Thettayil

KOCHI: Transport Minister Jose Thettayil has ruled out any immediate increase in private-bus fares.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Thettayil said the State government had not yet thought about holding any discussions with the bus operators who had threatened to go on an indefinite strike later in February over the demand for an increase in fares.

He said the demand was without basis and unjustifiable. Making it when a committee on fare revision was holding hearings was unacceptable.

The committee, chaired by the former High Court judge M. Ramachandran, with the Transport Commissioner as secretary and an economist and a transport expert as members, was looking into the issue.

He was not in a position to interfere in the functioning of the committee.

The Minister said the diesel price had not been increased to call for an immediate increase in the bus fares, unlike in the case of autorickshaw operators who had to face an increase of Rs.11 a litre of petrol within a short time.

He said the number of organisations of bus operators who had distanced themselves from the call for strike was far more than those who had threatened a strike.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Parallel colleges youth festival
Array of handicrafts on display
Cochin Haneefa remembered
Low-floor buses yet to reach break-even
Naval Aircraft Yard celebrates jubilee
Poor utilisation of funds by panchayats
Strike threat by HOCL employees
International meet on pancreatology
797 excise raids conducted
Plea on cargo handling
No increase in private bus fare: Thettayil
MG University to promote interdisciplinary teaching
Kochi has a glimpse of the World Cup
Priest declared Servant of God
A tale of transposed heads
Council discusses ways to tackle mosquito menace
Church body visits evictees
Talks on to end workers' strike at port
Fire at KRL doused
Over 150 KSRTC services to Goshree Islands from today
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2011, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu