Other States - Orissa   

Bus owners demand increase in fares

BHUBANESWAR: State Bus Owners' Association (SBOA) has hinted at suspension of passenger transport operation after Rath Yatra festival if the State government fails to revise bus fare in wake of recent hike in diesel price.

A delegation of SBOA on Monday met Chief Minster Naveen Patnaik, Transport Minister Sanjib Sahoo, and transport secretary G. K. Dhal for submitting a memorandum over their demand to raise bus fare.

“The bus fare has not been revised since April 2010. However, there have been two hikes in diesel prices in between. The State government need to give a fresh look at the present bus fare,” said Debasish Nayak, spokesperson for SBOA.

Mr. Nayak said, “in June 2010, the diesel price went up by Rs. 2.34 per litre. The State government forwarded the matter to High Level Technical Committee which assesses the impact of fuel price hike on bus fare. The committee recommended hike of two paise per km. But the decision is yet to be implemented.”

Under stress

“Now the price has been raised by Rs. 3.57 per litre. Besides, bus operators are currently under severe stress due to hike in insurance premium (42 per cent), tyre cost (40 per cent), mobile (Rs. 30 per litre), and chassis (Rs. 2 lakh per piece),” the SBOA spokesperson said.

The association said if bus fare was raised by 12 paise to 14 paise per km, then only operators would be in a comfortable position to beat the price rise in this sector.

“However, another issue that haunts us is stable railway fare. We are competing with the trains. If our fare exceeds train fare by a big margin, then passengers would not like to travel by bus. So the fare has to be raised in such a manner it will not be a burden on passengers.” Mr. Nayak said.

The bus owners association has convened an emergency meeting here on June 29.

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

Stories in this Section

Film producer Basant Nayak passes away
Naveen releases survey report on groundwater resources
High Court says ‘no' to school fee hike
Bus owners demand increase in fares
Bank manager robbed of Rs. 10 lakh
Dwindling lion population a cause for concern
RTI activist seeks steps to activate grievances cell

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