In an embarrassment to the State government, the Transport Department hiked bus fares across all corporations by 18% on Monday, hours after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced that fuel rates would be reduced by Rs. 2 per litre. An embarrassed chief minister quickly directed the managing directors of all the bus corporations to temporarily put the order on hold.
On Monday morning, Mr. Kumaraswamy had announced the fuel price reduction, but by 7 p.m., the Transport Department issued the order on the fare hike. Around 9.30 p.m., after returning from Kalaburgi, the CM directed the corporations to withhold the same, temporarily.
“The Chief Minister, after withholding the order, said that he will hold another meeting to deliberate on the fare revision. The decision will be taken after we get his consent. The fare hike has to be done to minimise the financial burden on corporations,” said Transport Minister D.C. Thammanna.
A senior official said that the fare hike is long pending. “The consent was given to hike the fare three days ago,” he said. And while commuters who rely on mass transit systems are relieved with the temporary reprieve, corporations have stressed on the need to increase fares.
Nearly 30 lakh passengers use the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and over 45 lakh passengers rely on the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) ever day.
An official of the KSRTC said, “The bus fare revision was done last in 2014. Over the past four years, diesel price has increased by ₹13-14 per litre, causing a huge financial burden on the corporations. Increased price has forced the KSRTC to spend an additional ₹85 lakh to purchase fuel.”
The daily average requirement of diesel is 610 kilolitre (KL) for KSRTC, 324 KL for BMTC, 331 KL for North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and 274 North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation. The corporations purchase fuel in bulk at ₹71.38 to ₹72.30 per litre.
In 2014, the KSRTC had increased fares by 7.96% citing financial burden.
