The Chhattisgarh Yatayat Mahasangh (CYM) has urged the State Transport Department for effecting a hike in passenger fare for buses.
A delegation of CYM office-bearers, led by its General Secretary, Haji Sarif, met the Assistant Transport Commissioner, Hemkrishna Rathore with their various demands including increasing the bus fare by 20 to 25 per cent. Sarif apprised the officer that only eight per cent hike in fare was considered on September 5, last year, while the rate of diesel have increased from Rs57.86 to Rs65.30 per litre .
He claimed that bus fare has already been increased in neighbouring states including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha. On account of not increasing the fare as per the diesel prices in Chhattisgarh, the local bus operators were bearing heavy losses, he added. He informed the officer about their inability to ply vehicles if the fare would not be increased soon. Besides, the bus operators demand to soon release payments of their buses used during lok Sabha polls.
Following this, Rathore assured the bus operators to send a proposal of their demands to the government for its consent. Notably, about 8,000 short and long-route buses are currently running in the State, which are the backbone of public transport in the State.