State Transport Ministry here on Friday sought two more days’ time to announce a possible hike in bus fares. Transport Minister Madan Mitra had called for a final meeting on Friday to announce the revised bus fares.
Talking to The Hindu , joint secretary of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate Tapan Banerjee said, “The recommendation of the all-party committee convened to look into revising bus fares would be submitted to the Chief Minister [Mamata Banerjee] through [Education Minister] Partha Chatterjee. We were told that the new fares would be announced after about two days.”
Stating that bus operators are ‘still in the dark’ about the State government’s revised fare chart, Mr. Banerjee said he was not very hopeful of a satisfactory hike until the new fares were announced.
“The all-party committee and the State government do understand that the existing fares are too low. However, unless new fares are announced, we can’t comment on anything,” he said.
Mr. Mitra said the final decision would be taken by Ms. Banerjee once she came back to the city after her tour of districts. Meanwhile, six bus operators have called for a meeting on August 6 to decide their next course of action.
Woman jumps off autoA woman jumped off a moving auto rickshaw on Thursday evening after the auto driver refused to stop the vehicle at the specified stop. The auto was plying from Sinthi to Bonhoogly in the city’s northern limits. The driver has been charged with attempt to kidnapping.
Stating that complaints against auto drivers had reduced recently, Mr. Mitra said this new incident proved that such incidents were on the rise again. “We will be taking strict action against such errant drivers. The driver in this case was arrested immediately after the woman registered a complaint at Baranagar police station,” he said.
