In the wake of rising input costs, the Punjab mini-bus operators on Thursday requested the State Government to raise the bus fares and reduce passenger tax.To put forth their demands in this regard, a delegation of mini-bus operators met the State Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
“We have requested the State Government to raise bus fares and reduce passenger tax as due to rising input costs, it is proving to be difficult to run our businesses,” said Punjab Mini-Bus Operators’ Association’s general secretary Tarlok Singh Batala.
Mini bus operators are demanding that minimum bus fare should be raised to Rs ten from the existing Rs seven. They also demanded that the State Government should bring down the passenger tax from Rs 50,000 to Rs 30,000 per annum.
Only recently, the mini-bus operators had also received assurance from the State Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar that their demands be “sympathetically considered” by the State Government.
The delegation, led by Association president Jaswinder Singh Grewal, had apprised the Minister that due to increase in taxes, the business of mini buses was adversely affected due to which they were facing difficulties in carrying out the operations. Apart from the taxes, the delegation also raised several issues regarding the business of mini buses.
Kohar had assured the delegation that their matter would be taken up with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister for solving the problems faced by them.