Stung by the delay in revising bus fares, private bus owners under the aegis of the Samyukta Samara Samiti has announced an indefinite strike from March 24. They served a strike notice to Transport Minister Antony Raju on Tuesday raising their demands and grievances.
The private operators have been demanding that the minimum fare be hiked to ₹12 from ₹8, student concession to ₹6 from ₹2 and per kilometre rate to ₹1.10. They had earlier given a strike call on November 9 raising these demands. But, the strike was deferred following last-minute talks with the Minister, who promised that there would be a fare revision soon.
Though the Justice M. Ramachandran Commission, tasked to look into fare revision, had also recommended that student concession rate be fixed at ₹5, the government had been dragging its feet for want of a consensus. Although Mr .Raju emphasised the need to revise bus fares on Sunday, he didn’t give any hint as to when the decision would be taken. The government also seems to be confused amid the rising prices of essential commodities and high inflation.
The bus owners made it clear that there is no point in running services incurring huge financial liability each day at a time when a good number of passengers have switched to different modes of transport during the pandemic period.
