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.
Comments
May be because of infected Gomoothra
JINU...
How did U come into being... QURAN speaks on our CREATOR who created all that exits... and It asks us to use our intellectual which ALLAH has given us. I request you to PONDER on what it says...
Please read the QURAN once & research what it says... Dont just sit idle and make your own asumption. living a life of unaware... about the CREATOR will be worse than animals..
May God help them all! They are all innocents.
Devaru kotta prasada beda annbardu...! May be some sanghi poojaris' wanted to cut down cost for his selfishness. Probe needed.
May the victims recover soon!
I agree, believing blindly doesnt make sense... But God has given intellectual to human being and he created us to worship him alone... Y dont we use our intellectual to know who is worthy of Worship rather than worshiping idols and animals...
Even in vedas, it say that those who worship such things are in DARKNESS...So to come out of such DARKNESS ... the idols or man made god worshipers should try to know who is GOD and Y we need IDOLs to reach GOD...
God says he is near to any caller, there is no need keep any life less object and ask with it... in other sense U can call him by saying \O the one who put soul in me, who gave life to me ...Guide me.No doubt his help will come to those who trust him... Try it."
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