The minimum fare in ordinary bus services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will go up by Re.1 soon to bring it on a par with the existing fare in the ordinary services of the 16,000-odd private stage carriers in the State.
The Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Tuesday reversed the decision taken by the previous UDF government in February to effect a cut of Re.1 in the minimum fare for ordinary bus services with effect from March 1. The UDF Cabinet had reduced the minimum fare on the premise that the slide in the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) should be passed on to the consumer. However, the operators of private stage carriers had refused to effect a cut and had maintained the minimum fare at Rs.7.
With Tuesday’s decision, the minimum fare of the ordinary bus services in the KSRTC will go up to Rs.7. This is expected to fetch the ailing public sector transport utility Rs.25 lakh daily.
The decision has come at a time when private stage carriers are demanding a hike in fares and student concession,
Cabinet subcommittee
Participating in a meet-the-press organised by the Kesari Memorial Journalists’ Trust, Minister for Transport A.K. Saseendran said the decision to hike the ordinary fare was on the basis of a report by a Cabinet subcommittee.
“The decision on the eve of elections was political and aimed at popularity. The stakeholders were not consulted, no study was carried out and the views of the Fare Revision Committee headed by former High Court judge Ramachandran were ignored. The fare reduction was not made applicable to private stage carriers. The KSRTC, which caters to only 25 per cent of the commuters, was suffering a loss of over Rs. 25 lakh due to this,” he said.
The Minister hinted at the KSRTC going after financial institutions that are offering loans at cheaper rates than the consortium of nine banks led by the SBI to overcome the financial crisis, mounting revenue-expenditure deficit and debt that had crossed over Rs.3,000 crore.
The All Kerala Bus Operators Organisation has decided to withdraw the stage carriers from the road from January second week if the demands to increase the minimum fare to Rs.9 and per km rate to 70 paise are not heeded.
Protest
Protesting the government move, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said the fare hike will cause extra burden on the people and will further reduce the patronage.
