Benagluru, Feb 27: The sudden hike in bus fares by the state-run transport corporation has triggered a public outrage and protests by the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in Karnataka.
Terming the hike as anti-people and inflationary, the Congress urged the ruling BJP to withdraw it forthwith and spare the commuters from the additional burden.
"KSRTC and its affiliates should not further burden the people when the cost of living has gone up and its bus service is used by the majority in the absence of trains in many regions of the state," said Ravi Gowda of the Congress.
In a surprise announcement on Tuesday night, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and its two affiliates -- North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKSRTC )and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKSRTC) -- increased bus fares by 12% with effect from Wednesday, drawing the ire of commuters and opposition parties alike.
Condemning the fare hike, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy urged the KSRTC to roll back the revised fares and give relief to the common man reeling under price rise due to CGST, SGST and food inflation.
"The BJP government has deliberately increased the bus fare ahead of the state budget for 2020-21 fiscal on March 2, catching people unawares. Though student passes have been spared from the hike, regular passengers are forced to pay Rs 5-32 more instead of getting better efficiency, management and productivity," Kumaraswamy said in a statement in Bengaluru.
It's an additional burden on us, said Bengaluru resident K. Venkatesh, while adding,
"The 12 percent hike in bus fares by the KSRTC and its north-east and north-west affiliates from Wednesday will hit passengers hard and make commuting costly.”
"The fare hike will negate the state government's efforts to encourage public transport service and force passengers to travel on the train, which is cheaper, faster and safer," asserted Venugopal Gupta, a cloth merchant in the city.
Justifying the hike, KSRTC Managing Director Shivayogi Kalasad told media that the hike was inevitable due to the steady increase in diesel price, dearness allowance in staff salary and overall cost of operations.
"Since the last fare revision came in May 2014, the operational cost has gone up substantially due to Rs 11.27 per litre hike in diesel price, increase in DA to employees and repairing, maintenance and fleet management costs," Kalasad said.
The financial burden due to fuel price hike is Rs 261 crore, DA Rs 341 crore and operational cost Rs 601 crore per annum for KSRTC alone, he said.
"For the benefit of rural passengers, fares have been reduced to Rs 5 from Rs 7 for the first 3 km. There is no increase in fares for the first 12 km and up to first 6 km in express service," Kalasad added.
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ramadam went came again again went .He is not seen like you .Pls do not bring religion in all things
hello bhai super pls send u r no. all the best
Rana krishna 10 Cross heghe nagar
hi zaid bro welcome to bollywood industry
May almighty Allah guide all Muslim ummah to the straight path. Ameen.
Holy month of Ramadan, film releasing, so sad!
Br. Zaid, may Allah guide you to be a good and religious muslim. Whatever your physical apperance is, from Allah, it's not of your's. It is like a floating buble on the surface of stream of water. It won't appear for a long, so like we, the human beings. After that, you think of your physical appreance. In this holy month of Ramadan each & every Muslim maximum trying to obey Allah & get pleased by Him. Don't think that the life what we are enjoying is the real life, but our real life really means from the moment of our death. So, fear Allah and refrain from your present decission and put all your efforts to be a good practical muslim and there by teach your dad & whole family about \deen e islam. May Allah bless you forever to make use of your tallents to study, practise & preach the correct deen in its origial shape. By your Brother in Islam. Yaa ayyu alladeena aamanu koo amfusikum va ahleekum naara, this ayath of quran reminds every muslim to safe guard them selves and fellow muslims from the hell fire."
Not necessary all Khans should be a super hit. Look at those Khans like ZAHID Khan, Imran Khan, Ayyub Khan, Kamal Khan and so on and so forth. They are not been seen now.
Good news in Ramadan. The Khan rule is all set to begin in Kannada film industry (sandalwood) like Bollywood. Congratulations to Zaid Khan the future super star of south India. Good that you r starting your film career in Ramadan. that too in last 10 days of Ramadan. wah kya kamal ki batth. masha allah. swarga guarantee...
all khans are ganapathi khans.. severel years back mr zameer ahmed had given ganapati idol to mr kumarswamy as his birth day gift.. that mean this khan also is a devoti of ganapati like bolly wood khan sharuk and salman keep it up
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