The Hindu : Panel to work out fare hike set up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002

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Panel to work out fare hike set up

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI APRIL 29 .Even as the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, wrote to the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Ram Naik, seeking a roll back of the hike in CNG prices, the Delhi Cabinet today set up a three-member committee to work out details of the fare hike. The committee will work out details keeping in mind the interest of both commuters and transporters.

The Cabinet, which met under the leadership of Ms. Dikshit, formed a committee comprising K.S. Baidwan, Chairman DTC, Ramesh Chandra, Principal Secretary (Finance), and Sindhushree Khullar, Commissioner (Transport). The committee has been asked to work out all the minute details of the fare hike and present its final report to the Delhi Cabinet by Friday. A decision to hike the fares would be taken after a Cabinet meeting on Saturday.

Talking to The Hindu, the Chief Minister said not only had she asked Mr. Naik to roll back the CNG hike but had also urged the Union Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, to withdraw the excise duty imposed on CNG in the Union Budget. She said at present there are 55,000 CNG vehicles operating in the Capital and the number is expected to go up substantially in the next few months. On the other hand, the availability of CNG has raised a lot of questions as the long queues outside the CNG filling stations continue to be a cause of concern. With the Government and the transporters having to make huge investments in the CNG sector, the Indraprastha Gas Limited needs to ensure that CNG is available without any harassment to the vehicle owners.

Ms. Dikshit said the three-member committee constituted by the Cabinet has been asked to prepare all the details pertaining to the fare hike so that a factual position is put before the people.

In addition to this, the committee would work with an open mind and make calculations keeping in mind the interests of the commuters as well as the transporters.

The effort is to ensure that both sides get a fair deal and nobody is burdened in a manner which would make things difficult.

In fact, the Delhi Government had no intention of raising fares but the decision by the IGL to sharply hike the CNG price had forced us into a situation where a fare hike was imminent.

She informed that DTC would be incurring an additional expenditure of Rs. 1 crore per month with the hike in CNG fares.

Stating the Delhi Government was committed to not only promoting the use of CNG but also giving clean air to the residents of the Capital, Ms. Dikshit said that such measures, as the sharp CNG price hike, did not help matters.

She said the Delhi Government was suffering a loss of Rs.100 crores on account of non-imposition of sales tax on CNG. It has restrained from imposing a tax on CNG in the interest of promoting an eco- friendly fuel and not making things more difficult for the residents of the Capital.

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