Autorickshaw fares on several routes in the city went up on Monday, three days after the price of auto LPG rose by ₹8 per litre, the second jump in eight days.
Between March 12 and 20, the auto LPG price went up by ₹13 per litre.
The fare on the Ultadanga-Sector V route rose by ₹5 to ₹40.
The fares on the Maniktala-Phoolbagan route increased by ₹2 to ₹17, and the Phoolbagan-Girish Park fare went up by ₹3 to ₹23.
The fare on the route connecting Ultadanga to Tank No. 12 and Sushrut increased from ₹25 to ₹30.
A banner put up by members of the Ultadanga-Salt Lake Auto Operators’ Union linked the fare hike to the increase in auto LPG prices.
The banner also stated that fares would be rolled back once the supply of auto LPG is normalised.
“It would be difficult for us to sustain without increasing the fares. We have been pushed to the wall,” said Adhir Das, an auto driver and a member of the No. 4 Ultadanga-Salt Lake Auto Operators’ Union.
In recent days, there has been an increasing demand for a review of auto fares.
Several auto drivers said their survival was at stake. Offsetting the hike was inevitable despite union leaders on most routes — predominantly led by the Trinamool Congress — insisting there would be no fare hike.
An autorickshaw driver pays between ₹300 and ₹400 to the vehicle’s owner every day. The amount depends on the length and popularity of routes. In some cases, either the owner or the driver pays for the gas.
“The party doesn’t subscribe to this fare hike. We will find out from the respective leaders of some of the routes about how this decision was taken,” said Sanjib Banerjee, a Trinamool leader overseeing multiple autorickshaw routes covering Gariahat, Golpark and Ruby.
The fare hike came at a time when long waits for a ride have turned into a daily affair for
commuters
“The number of autorickshaws on the Ruby-Gariahat route, Kasba-Dakshinapan, Rajdanga-Aleya and Haltu-Dhakuria has dwindled significantly because of the long waiting time for LPG refills,” said Bapi Saha, a driver.
“It takes close to six hours to get a refill done,” he said.
On Monday, long queues were visible outside several such filling stations in
Behala, Jadavpur and
Phoolbagan.
On Friday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: “The prices of domestic and commercial LPG cylinders have
risen sharply since the days when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. Even the price of LPG has risen,
and there will be a cumulative impact on the price of all items.”
“Let Modiji tackle this impact, and then he can consider conquering Bengal,” she added.