The auto and taxi rides in Delhi will become costlier in the days to come as the Arvind Kejriwal Government on Friday decided to hike the minimum fare by approving the Fare Fixation Committee’s report in view of rising CNG prices in the national Capital.
According to the revised fares, the meter down charge (minimum fare) for the initial 1.5 kilometre for auto-rickshaws has been increased from `25 to `30, while the per kilometre charge after meter down has been hiked from `9.50 to `11. For taxis, the per kilometre charge after meter down has been hiked from `14 to `17 for non-AC vehicles and from `16 to `20 for AC vehicles.
The extra luggage charges is also increased by 25 per cent which is `10 from `7.5.
The night charges which starts from 11 pm to 5 am remains unchanged — 25 per cent extra on fare. While the waiting charges will also the same `0.75 per minute.
The fare of non-AC and AC taxi’s in Delhi for the initial 1 km has also been increased to `40, which is hiked by `15. The waiting charges after 15 minutes have also been revised from `0.30 to `1 per minute for both non-AC and AC taxis. Extra luggage charges have also been increased to `15 from `10.
The night charges for the taxi’s is still the same 25 per cent more than the day charges.
The last revision in the auto-rickshaw fares happened in 2020 while that for taxi which includes black-and-yellow taxi, economy taxi and premium taxi happened nine years back in 2013.
Giving details, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said he had received many representations from the auto-rickshaw and taxi associations and unions on the issue of hike in fares. Earlier, in April, the Delhi Government has formed a committee to consider fare revision following continuous demands from the unions over the past few years. The committee consisting of transport department officials, representatives of auto and taxi unions and commuters as members, submitted its report to the government in May this year.
Criticing the Kejriwal Government over this move, Rajendra Soni, president, Delhi Auto Rickshaw Sang, said they have been demanding the subsidy in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) but instead the city Government has put all the pressure on the commuters of the national Capital.
“The auto rickhaw drivers do not want to put the load on the people of Delhi. The State Government should have given the subsidy instead of revising the fares. The Kejriwal Government only thinks of the auto rickshaw as a way to win the elections. The AAP Government has done nothing for the past 8 years for the drivers of auto rickshaws, as they came to power by campaigning through these drivers in the city,” said Soni.
“Kejriwal is doing dirty politics to win the upcoming Gujarat elections by increasing the fare of the auto’s and taxi’s,” Soni added.
Meanwhile, Shivam, a commuter said the Government should not have hiked the price in the Capital as there is already so much inflation. “Everything in the city is getting costly day by day, the vegetable prices are touching the roof, the petrol prices is skyrocketing, how will a person sole earner is able to feed his family,” he said.
“I regularly commute from Patel Nagar to Karol Bagh to my shop from auto rickshaw. It pay Rs 70 per day but now I have to shell out Rs 100 per day and my business is also not running well,” Nawab, another commuter, said.
“The Government is increasing prices of the basic amenities which are making it difficult for a person to buy bread for his family. The Government should think about the people of the city,” Nawab added.